India’s nuclear program had its beginnings in 1944 when scientist Homi Bhabha tried to convince the Indian National Congress of the necessity of harnessing nuclear energy and established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.
After the go-ahead from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhabha coordinated the nuclear weapons design and development programme in the country.
The establishment of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) ensured that the programme was steered towards the right direction and that adequate funds were made available from the budget for the same.
During the years up to 1962, research reactors were acquired and installed for the development of atomic energy largely for peaceful purposes.
The Sino-Indian war slowed down the progress. Indira Gandhi became the country’s Prime Minister in 1966 and more serious efforts were put in towards the nuclear program.
Scientists P.K. Iyengar and Homi Sethna played important roles in the development of a plutonium plant called Purnima in 1969. The plant was headed by Iyengar, Sethna, R Ramanna and Vikram Sarabhai.
In September 1972, after the war with Pakistan, Indira Gandhi sanctioned the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to produce a nuclear device and then test it.
Only selected leaders from the top brass of the Indian Army were informed of the test.
The whole operation was done in clandestine fearing that the US would come to know about it through their satellites.
The formal name of the device was “Peaceful Nuclear Explosive”, although the codename was “Smiling Buddha”.
The date of the test May 18, 1974 was Buddha Jayanti in India.
Only Gandhi’s closest aides were aware of the operation. Some experts claim that even the then defence minister was not a party to the operation. The external affairs minister was intimated only 48 hours prior.
The total number of civilian scientists involved in the operation was just 75.
Ramanna, BARC’s director, was the head of the nuclear bomb project.
The project’s second-in-command, P.K. Iyengar was the one who designed and created the bomb.
The chief metallurgist was R Chidambaram and the implosion system was developed by N.S. Venkatesan. W.D. Patwardhan developed the detonation system and the explosive materials.
Homi Sethna, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, supervised the project.
APJ Abdul Kalam, who would be the country’s president later, also witnessed the test as a representative of the DRDO.
APJ Abdul Kalam, who would be the country’s president later, also witnessed the test as a representative of the DRDO.
The design of the device was ‘implosion type’. DRDO’s laboratory at Chandigarh assembled the implosion system. Another one of its labs in Pune developed the detonation system.
6 kg of plutonium was used. The neutron initiator, nicknamed ‘Flower’ was of the type polonium-beryllium.
The entire bomb was assembled at Trombay before being transported to the test site at Pokhran in Rajasthan.
The device weighed 1400 kg and had a diameter of 1.25 m. The device was detonated at 8.05 am.
Scientists Sethna, Ramanna and DRDO’s Basanti Nagchaudhuri were awarded the Padma Vibhushan. Some other scientists involved received the Padma Shri.
India told the international community that the nuclear test bomb was peaceful and there were no plans of militarising the nuclear programme.
