India nuclear tests 'successful'

India's nuclear tests shocked the world

India's 1998 nuclear tests were "fully successful", the chief of the country's atomic energy agency has said.

Dr Anil Kakodkar was speaking in Mumbai (Bombay) following recent controversy over the tests.

In August a retired atomic scientist closely associated with the tests said they were not as successful as claimed. That led some to call for more tests.

India's 1998 tests led to similar tests by Pakistan, raising fears of a nuclear conflict between the two countries.

'Unnecessary controversy'

Differences over the success or otherwise of India's 1998 tests emerged in public in August.

K Santhanam, a respected atomic scientist who was project director of the tests, said one of the tests - on a hydrogen bomb - had not worked.

He also said India would have to carry out more tests for a credible nuclear deterrent.

Dr Kakodkar said: "There is absolutely no reason for any doubt about the yield of that test."

He and R Chidambaram, principal scientific adviser to the Indian government, told reporters that "unnecessary controversy has been raked up" by Mr Santhanam's comments.

They said the five nuclear tests on 11 and 13 May 1998 had achieved their scientific objectives, including the capability to build fission and thermonuclear weapons with yields of up to 200 kilotons.

Mr Chidambaram said proliferation sensitive information such as the composition of materials used or their quantities had not been revealed so it was "speculative" on the part of others to calculate the yield.

"No one outside the design team has the data to calculate this fission-fusion yield break-up or any other significant parameter related to fusion burn," the two men said in a statement.

Dr Kakodkar stressed that the tests had given India the capacity to build deterrence and meet the country's security requirements.