Mumbai, September 24
The nuclear tests conducted at Pokhran in 1998 were successful and all the intended objectives were achieved, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar said here today.
Debunking allegations by senior nuclear scientist K Santhanam that the tests were a failure, Kakodkar said they demonstrated India's capacity to build nuclear deterrence. "It has given us the capability to build deterrence based on both fission and thermonuclear weapon systems from modest to all the way up to 200 kilotonne and possibility of meeting all our security requirements," Kakodkar said at a press conference.
Apart from Kakodkar, R Chidambaram, chairman of the AEC in 1998 and the current Principal Scientific Adviser to the Union government also made a presentation to prove that the tests were a success. He further added that several peer reviews had been published in the past 11 years, which vindicated the Atomic Energy Department.
Chidambaram further noted that the scientists could not comply with the demands for an independent inquiry by experts made by Santhanam for the entire information to be revealed because this was “proliferation sensitive information.”
Both senior scientists said they were unable to understand as to why the controversy was breaking now. "We are saddened that two of our colleagues used heavy rhetoric, which is not a substitute for good science.”
