One of the 5 nuke devices at Pokhran-II was a weapon

One of the 5 nuke devices at Pokhran-II was a weapon
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, June 20: Only one out of the five nuclear devices tested at Pokhran in May, 1998, was a weapon, the rest being devices with "weaponisable configuration", Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman R Chidambaram has said.

"The 15 kiloton device was a weapon which had been in the stockpile for several years. Others were weaponisable configurations," Chidambaram said delivering a talk here last evening.

The fission device was evolved from India's peaceful nuclear experiment in May, 1974, he said.

Pointing out the difference between a weapon and a weaponisable configuration, Chidambaram said a host of other parameters, including the reaction of the device with the environment, has to be taken into account before a weaponisable configuration is converted into a weapon.

India conducted five nuclear tests in 1998 which included a 45 kiloton thermonuclear device, a fission device and three sub-kiloton devices.

Though the total yield of the two-stage thermo nuclear device was made available, AEC intentionally neither gave the fission-fusion break up nor declared the material of the device so that "nobody can calculate the fusion yield," he said, adding that it consisted of a "fusion-boosting fission device" as the primary stage followed by a fusion device.

He, however, said the fusion part worked perfectly.

Chidambaram said neutron bombs, considered the third generation nuclear weapons, are not a substitute for fission products.

"Neutron bombs are low-yield weapons which have failed as an effective anti-tank weapon," he said.

Third generation nuclear weapons are "special effect weapons with tailored or enhanced effects" which have never found any truly convincing military use, Chidambaram said quoting a report prepared by Swedish scientists.

Fourth generation weapons which are currently at the research level are very low yield (in the range of one to 100 tons) devices and are not weapons of mass destruction, he said.

These devices, however, could be used to trigger another stage in other types of nuclear devices, he admitted.

Projecting the future of nuclear-energy based electricity in India, the AEC chairman said two more nuclear reactors will become operational by September this year to produce about 400 megawatts of electricity.

"The fourth unit of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) will go critical in September while the first unit of the Kaiga Atomic Power Project in Karnataka is likely to become operational in August," he said. Both units will have a 220 megawatts installed capacity.

The country aims to generate more than 20,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020, he added.