The Hindu : National : Scientists want Chidambaram to disprove claims

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 07, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

Scientists want Chidambaram to disprove claims

Mumbai: Some nuclear physicists said the onus was on R. Chidambaram, who was the head of the Department of Atomic Energy 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 P.K. 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 Mr. Chidambaram to Mr. Santhanam to prove his claim that the nuclear test was a ‘fizzle.’

The scientists were of the view that since Mr. Chidambaram was well aware of the fact that only a small number of persons have access to the Pokhran-II data and Mr. Santhanam was 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 nuclear tests, the physicists dismissed them as “irrelevant” 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. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National