NSA Terms Santhanam’s Claims on Pokhran II as ‘Horrific’
Terming a former DRDO scientist’s claims on Pokhran II as “horrific”, National Security Advisor MK Narayanan has said that India’s thermonuclear capabilities have been verified by a peer group of researchers.
Narayanan said that last week, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which has a peer group of scientists, gave out the “most authoritative” statement on the efficacy of the 1998 nuclear tests and that there is no need of any further clarification from the government on the matter.
“They (AEC) were satisfied in 1998 and they were satisfied in 2009. Now what are you going to discuss?” he told a private channel.
He said that after controversy began on the issue with scientist K Santhanam’s statement on the efficacy of the hydrogen bomb, the AEC, an independent commission and the highest body in such matters, was asked to conduct studies of data of the 1998 nuclear tests once again.
“I think, we have done what we have done. Beyond that I do not know what we can do,” he said.
Eminent scientists like C N R Rao, P Rama Rao and M R Srinivasan were members of the AEC and the doyen of the nuclear programme Raja Ramanna was part the apex nuclear body which went into the test results in 1998.
“The thermonuclear device had a yield of 45 kilotons. I have chosen my words carefully 45 kilotons and nobody, including Mr Santhanam who has absolutely no idea what he is talking about, can contest what is proven fact by the data which is there,” Narayanan said.
