Smiling Buddha

Smiling Buddha (MEA designation: Pokhran-I) was the code name of India's first successful nuclear weapon test on 18 May 1974. The nuclear fission bomb was detonated in the Pokhran Test Range of the Indian Army in Rajasthan. As per the United States military intelligence, the operation was named as Happy Krishna. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described the test as a peaceful nuclear explosion.

The bomb was built by scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) headed by Raja Ramanna, in assistance with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) headed by B. D. Nag Chaudhuri under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Commission headed by Homi Sethna. A CIRUS nuclear reactor given by Canada and heavy water (used as a neutron moderator) supplied by the United States were used in the production of nuclear material for the bomb. The preparations for the test and the detonation was conducted in extreme secrecy. It was tightly controlled by prime minister Indira Gandhi with very few people outside the team of scientists being aware of the test.

The device was of the implosion-type design with a plutonium core. It had a hexagonal cross section, 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) in diameter, and weighed 1,400 kg (3,100 lb). It was assembled, mounted on a hexagonal metal tripod, and was transported to the test site on rails. The test was conducted at 8.05 IST on 18 May 1974. The data on the exact nuclear yield of the test has been varied and scarce, and sources indicate that the bomb might have yielded between six and ten kilotons.

It was the first confirmed nuclear weapons test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The test led to the formation of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to control nuclear proliferation. After the test, India carried out a series of nuclear tests named Pokhran-II in 1998.

The origins of India's nuclear programme can be traced back to 1945 when Homi Bhabha established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research with the aid of Tata Group. After Indian independence, the Atomic Energy Act was passed on 15 April 1948, that established the Indian Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC). India was involved in the development of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but ultimately did not sign it. In 1954, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was established which was responsible for the atomic energy development programme and was allocated a significant amount of the defence budget in the subsequent years. In 1956, the first nuclear reactor named APSARA became operational at Trombay, becoming the first operating reactor in Asia. A CIRUS reactor was given to India as a part of an understanding with Canada and the United States under the Atoms for Peace programme. India set up an indigenous programme to manufacture uranium nuclear fuel for the reactor, as opposed to importing from other countries. In July 1958, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru authorized "Project Phoenix" to build a reprocessing plant with a capacity to produce 20 tons of plutonium fuel a year using the PUREX process, designed by the Vitro Corporation of America. The construction of the plutonium plant began in 1961, and it was commissioned in mid-1964.

The civilian nuclear program to produce electricity from nuclear energy was also established during this period with plans to construct new nuclear power plants for the purpose. Nehru's discussions with Bhabha and Kenneth Nichols, a US Army engineer, showed his approach and intention to create nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence. In 1962, India was engaged in a war with China and with China pursuing its own atomic development programme, it accelerated India's need to develop nuclear weapons. During this period, India signed an agreement with Soviet Union to help build nuclear reactors in India.

With two reactors operational in early 1960s, Bhabha was involved in learning and development of know-how to manufacture nuclear weapons. The atomic energy act was amended in 1962 to give far more control to the central government. Bhabha was also aggressively lobbying for nuclear weapons and made several public speeches on the matter. He also estimated that a nuclear device with a 10 kt yield would cost US$350,000. The reactors were not producing fuel at the expected rate and with Nehru's death in 1964, the programme slowed down. The incoming prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gave approval for the Subterranean Nuclear Explosion Project in 1964 under Bhabha's insistence. However, Shastri did not want to commit to a weapons test yet, and later appointed physicist Vikram Sarabhai as the head of the nuclear programme. Because of Sarabhai's non-violent Gandhian beliefs, he directed the programme towards peaceful purposes rather than military development. Meanwhile, the design work on the bomb proceeded under physicist Raja Ramanna, who continued the nuclear weapons technology research after Bhabha's death in 1966.

After Shastri's death in 1966, Indira Gandhi became the prime minister and work on the nuclear weapons programme resumed. Homi Sethna, a chemical engineer, was put in charge of plutonium development. The project for the design and manufacturing of the nuclear device employed just 75 scientists because of the secret nature of the project. Ramanna led the project with P. K. Iyengar serving as his deputy and the leadership team also included Sethna and Sarabhai. The weapons programme was directed towards the production of plutonium rather than uranium and then in 1969, enough plutonium had been accumulated for the production of a single nuclear bomb. In 1968–69, Iyengar led a team to the Soviet Union and toured the nuclear research facilities at Dubna. Upon his return to India, Iyengar set about developing a plutonium fueled fast breeder reactor named Purnima under Mahadeva Srinivasan. In 1969, R. Chidambaram was engaged for researching the use of plutonium.