Operation Smiling Buddha-1974
The Pokhran test was a bomb, I can tell you now.... An explosion is an explosion, a gun is a gun, whether you shoot at someone or shoot at the ground.... I just want to make clear that the test was not all that peaceful. - Dr. Raja Ramanna
May 18, 1974- India conducts it's first nuclear test succesfully in Pokhran under Operation Smiling Buddha. The first ever test by a country that was not one of the 5 permanent members of the UNSC, characterized officially as a peaceful explosion.
The origin of India's nuclear program lay in TIFR that was founded by Homi Jahangir Bhabha in 1944, as well as his 3 stage program. Though India's nuclear program was intended for peaceful purposes, it was Homi Bhabha who steered it towards military purpose in 1954, resulting in two important infra projects. The first was BARC at Trombay in 1954.
The other one was setting up of DAE( Dept of Atomic Energy), of which Bhabha was the first secretary. And in 1954, India established the CIRRUS reactor at Trombay, with the help of US and Canada. CIRRUS was a significant event in the history of India's nuclear program, the ideal facility to develop a plutonium device and kickstarted the program to develop an indigenous nuclear fuel cycle.
By 1960, Nehru made the decision to move to full scale production, and discussions were held with Westinghouse Electric to construct India's first nuclear power plant at Tarapur, near Mumbai. However the rout in the 1962 War with China, meant the nuclear program got distracted. Also the Soviets at that time occupied with the Cuban Missile Crisis, did not back India either.
In the meantime Homi Bhabha began to aggresively lobby for nuclear weapons, and also began to propagate via broadcasts. However his death in 1965 in a plane crash, meant Raja Ramanna, would take over the program and lead it. Lal Bahadur Shastri as PM appointed Vikram Sarabhai in charge of the nuclear program, who however sought to guide it for more peaceful purposes. In 1967 Indira Gandhi became the PM, and the work once again resumed with great vigor.
The two men behind India's first nuclear bomb were Dr.Homi Sethna who developed the weapon grade plutonium, while Dr. Raja Ramanna designed the whole device. Also the program now focused more on plutonium than uranium. Around 1969, Dr. P.K.Iyengar toured the Soviet Union, and was impressed by the plutonium fuelled pulsed fast reactor. On his return he began to develop similiar reactors. This secret plant was known as Purnima.
However with the 1971 War breaking out and US presence in the region, the nuclear program was given low priority. After the war was over, Indira gave BARC the go ahead to produce the nuclear weapons in 1972. Also during the 1971 War when the US had sent the USS Enterprise in support of Pakistan, the Soviets countered it with a submarine armed with nuke missiles, which convinced Indira Gandhi of the utility of nuclear deterrent.
Though the Army was not involved in the testing, the top brass was neverthless informed about the decision. Indira managed to maintain extreme secrecy over the test being conducted. Codenamed as Smiling Buddha, the only other people aware of the nuclear test were Indira's personal advisers P.N. Haksar and Durga Dhar. Defense Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram came to know of the test only after it was conducted, while Swaran Singh, MEA, within 48 hours.
Finally on May 18, 1974 the nuclear test was conducted on a Buddha Jayanti day. India had entered the nuclear club. Just 75 civilian scientists were involved in this project, while among the Army, only the COAS Gen Gopal Gurunath Bewoor was aware.
The man behind Pokhran I, Dr Raja Ramanna, whose fame even prompted Saddam Hussein to make him an offer for Iraq's program.
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P.K.Iyengar, was the one who designed the bomb, he had previously served as director of BARC. R.Chidambaram, the chief metallurgist, who would later play a critical role in Pokhran II.
N S Venkatesan of the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory developed and manufactured the high explosive implosion system, while W.D.Patwardhan of the HEMRL, designed the detonation system.
Dr. Homi Sethna supervised the entire project, as Chairman of Atomic Energy Comission, while APJ Abdul Kalam was there as DRDO representative.
The device was of an implosion type, and somewhat similiar to Fat Man that was dropped on Nagasaki. This system was assembled at Terminal Ballistics Research Lab, DRDO, Chandigarh, while the detonation system was at HEMRL, of DRDO, Pune. 6kg of plutonium needed for the project came from CIRRUS reactor at BARC, while the neutron initiator was of the polonium–beryllium type, code-named Flower, developed by Dr V. K. Iya of BARC.
The nuclear bomb engineered and assembled by Indian engineers at Trombay before transportation to the test site, had a hexagonal cross section, 1.25 metres in diameter, and weighed 1400 kg, mounted on a hexagonal metal tripod. It was transported to the shaft on rails which the army kept covered with sand, much like Pokhran II, and denotated at 8.05 a.m, by Dr. Pranab R. Dastidar in a shaft 107 m under the Pokhran test range.
The nuclear test considerably boosted Indira Gandhi's popularity after the 1971 War, both Homi Sethna and Raja Ramanna were rewarded with the Padma Vibhushan, while 5 other project members got the Padma Shri.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was actually formed in response to Pokhran I, to check international nuclear proliferation, that effectively ruled out any nuclear exports to India, and it was only in 2008 this was waived off under the nuclear agreement with US. Canada which had assisted in building of CIRRUS reactor, froze nuclear energy assistance for the two heavy water reactors then under construction. Though the US initially expressed it's displeasure over the 1974 test, it concluded that it did not violate any agreement and proceeded with a June 1974 shipment of enriched uranium for the Tarapur reactor.