Pokhran II row: Nuke physicists want ex-AEC chief to disprove claims

Some nuclear physicists have said the onus was on R Chidambaram, who was the top Atomic Energy boss during Pokhran-II in 1998, to disprove the claim of ex-DRDO scientist K Santhanam that this thermonuclear test was not a complete success.

According to PK Iyengar, another former chief of the Atomic Energy Commission(AEC), the nuclear physicists within the establishment took this view in the wake of a challenge thrown by Chidambaram to Santhanam to prove his claim that the nuclear test was a 'fizzle'.

The scientists were of the view that since Chidambaram is well aware of the fact that only a small number of persons have access to the Pokhran-II data and Santhanam is not one among them the onus is on him to prove the test gave the desired yield in the face of what they said some evidence to the contrary.

Responding to comments by AEC chief Anil Kakodkar that India has the capability for simulation and therefore there was no need for further nuke tests, the physicists dismissed them as "irrelevalent" to the debate on further tests.

"The Baneberry tests which are referred to from which simulation data are supposedly taken, refer only to the aftermath of the explosion and its geological effects. They have nothing to do with the actual device itself and is therefore irrelevant to debate about whether we need further tests," the physicists said.

Claiming that the yield was below expectation, the physicists said on the basis of a single test, it is highly unlikely that any simulation will suffice as every physicist knows.