Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

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kenop
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by kenop »

shiv wrote:Regarding the story of India getting wind of Pakistani tests and testing in a hurry - I find it difficult to reconcile one point Why did India need to test in a hurry before they did? We would have had all the time in the world to watch them get sanctioned while diligently preparing for tests.

The "hurry" may have been Vajpayee and his earlier collapsed government perhaps?
PKI said "to be one up on them".
Ramana has explained the "hurry" above.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by NRao »

Times Now has contacts in the US deep inside the nuclear establlishment?
Nope. Times Now ka Bap has contacts: GoI - or some within GoI. I suspect some within GoI have contacts within Times Now.

Well............................. get ready .................................... India will test and then sign.

Both sides happt.

Obama will get NPP for getting India to sign onto CTBT, NPT, FMCT,................. ABC, XYZ.

However, IF India could get to know the dealings between PakiLand and China during Kargil, I would suspect that GoI does NOT need US "strategist" to inform India about what is going on within TSP. Af-Pak has been an Indian coinage and HUMINT has been an Indian strength.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by ShauryaT »

shiv wrote:Regarding the story of India getting wind of Pakistani tests and testing in a hurry - I find it difficult to reconcile one point Why did India need to test in a hurry before they did? We would have had all the time in the world to watch them get sanctioned while diligently preparing for tests.

The "hurry" may have been Vajpayee and his earlier collapsed government perhaps?
I think so too, but the fact that things were done in a hurry and may have had an effect on planning, logistics is probable.

On TSP, what seems credible is the idea that TSP was ready to test. Not only that they were ready, but they were confident, as they had certification from PRC. Our tests successfully smoked this fact out, if anyone had any illusions. The Pok2 tests, was the minimum a sensible PM could do in the interests of national security.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Raja Ram »

Well my view is that even if we test again, there should be no signing of these treaties. But that will be a new debate for a new thread. Not getting into that here.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by John Snow »

Kanson Guru thus spake
Your angst is right, but i ask you not to read too much into this. Its actually an inter-departmental fight and they are using Kalam now in their fight. Homi Sethna and PKI belongs to the same discipline (Chemistry) and Raja Ramanna, RC belongs to another discipline (Physics). If you trace back the genesis for this internal fight starts earlier to POK-I. During POK-I HS backed PKI and RR and RC shared same views.

Why Kalam ? Becoz Kalam supported RC. So it is. Now, if Kalam cant talk abt Nuclear matters, ofcourse he is not a nuclear scientist, then BK/BC et al cannot even utter the word "nuclear" in their talk. You know Kalam started the Prithivi program and you know what is the payload of it. From that time to establishing the N command, he has played a role in all these thing.
I had earlier said that BARC is full of groupism, like mafia, they indoctrinate and protect. Just some Good fellas.
Mava and his gang of teen (hindi) Party are also of clan, so their anthem is to sing about...

Our Agnis dont flare and our bums dont sizzle, we have this fixation of we also ran....
Jai ho.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by dinesha »

Raja Ram wrote:How did they get access to this report? Times Now has contacts in the US deep inside the nuclear establlishment?
From: fas
http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2009/08/pakistan2009.php
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Satya_anveshi »

I didn't see this posted (from TOI-let). Earlie one posted by Sanatanan was from CNN-IBN.

Sethna slams Kalam, says Pokhran II done in haste
Homi Sethna, a former top atomic boss, on Tuesday waded into the 1998 Pokhran row when he backed ex-DRDO scientist K Santhanam's assessment
that the nuclear test was not a full success and slammed former President A P J Abdul Kalam for rubbishing the claim.

"I fully support Santhanam and I stand by his statement that India needs more nuke tests to be conducted," Sethna, the guiding force behind India's first nuclear test in 1974, said.

Sethna now in his eighties suggested that Kalam, who was heading the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) when Santhanam was coordinating Pokhran-II, suggested that the missile man was no qualified authority to rubbish his former colleague's claim.

Simultaneously, another former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) P K Iyengar alleged that the 1998 tests were done in haste at the bidding of the government of the day. A BJP-led NDA government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee had just assumed office when India conducted the tests.

The comments by Sethna, who was the AEC chairman in 1974 came notwithstanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kalam setting at rest the controversy over the 1998 nuclear tests.

Kalam said the only thermonuclear device (hydrogen bomb) tested produced the "desired yield".

But Sethna said "former president APJ Abdul Kalam was not a scientist and Santhanam is a physicist and he knew what he was talking.

"What does Kalam understand about physics? He can say anything as he was the President and a politician."

"What Santhanam said was absolutely correct," he added.

"What did he (Kalam) know about extracting, making explosive grade? He didn't know a thing. By being a president he appeared to wear the stature. He relied on atomic energy to gain additional stature," said Sethna about Kalam while talking to a TV channel.

"I don't like politicians to interfere specially lay politicians to interfere any more. I firmly believe that they should stay out. When we did the test... the first test there was no politician. It was a raw one. We were lucky that the whole thing collapsed," said Sethna, who in his days in the atomic establishment had the reputation of being a blunt, plainspeaking organisational leader.

Kalam had on August 27 said Pokhran II was a success rubbishing Santhanam's claim that the tests were a "fizzle".

Iyengar, who was among the three top atomic scientists who oversaw the 1974 tests, has already shared Santhanam's assessment and questioned official claims of success.

Iyengar suggested that in March 1998, two months before Pokhran-II, India's intelligence must have found out that the Pakistanis were about to test and that they were serious.

"Therefore, they (the new government in India) asked these people(scientists) to hurry up, do as fast as possible in all this extra pressure to be one up politically because BJP had just come to power," he said.

"If Pakistan fired an explosion before India what a common man in India would have thought," Iyengar added.

The Principal Scientific advisor of Government of India Dr R Chidambaram, who led the team of scientists for Pokhran-II, denied Santhanam's statement and said he had to explain scientifically why the tests were not fully successful.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by pankajs »

Baap re, this guy does not mince words. He branded Kalam a politician. His statements are very emphatic.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Satya_anveshi »

pankajs wrote:Baap re, this guy does not mince words. He branded Kalam a politician. His statements are very emphatic.
"I don't like politicians to interfere specially lay politicians to interfere any more. I firmly believe that they should stay out."
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by ramana »

ramana wrote:
kenop wrote:PKI was on CNN-IBN .... perhaps they got intelligence reports of Pakistani plans to test towards the end of May. Hence, they gave a go ahead (it had to be done before Pakistan carried out its tests).....,
In late May 1998, there was reporter in TOI, Dinesh Kumar who alluded to a theory that GOI got wind of the follow-on to TSP's Ghauri test of April 6th was a nuke test by May. And PRC being the UNSC chairman of the period would introduce a resolution condemning the TSP test and express regrets and ban all other follow-on tests. And US would go along as a Non Proliferation dogma. It was to avoid this strategic lock-out that the tests were conducted. And full credit to RAW for that. Nothing political about all this.
No follow-up after this.

......
Read the bolded part.

Thanks, ramana

What is M.N. Srinivasan stance on this?
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by John Snow »

Looks like the axiom

"It always beneficial to have idiot as a boss" has been proved.

I am slightly veering towards RC and Mava lok/log as I foundnew evidence thanks to "Googleswara"

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2 ... d-tsunamis
Active cloaking differs from cloaking technologies that rely on special materials to bend light or other electromagnetic waves around an object. Scientists have focused on next-generation metamaterials that can only shield very small objects from visible light

.....
By contrast, active cloaking could generate electromagnetic waves that adapt to match the frequency and amplitude of incoming waves. That creates the phenomenon known as destructive interference, where waves cancel each other out, much like how noise cancellation headsets work on sound waves.

{The id10T Teen Party was making fun of when I said bose noise cancellation migh have been used, Is this teen party PeeHD from Bhagalpur University of Bihar? joker of the worst kind talks about having made quality bums for sure with his hands...}



Related Articles
A Real Cloaking Device
New Steps Towards A Real Invisibility Cloak
Seismic Invisibility Cloak Could Hide Buildings From Earthquakes
Tags
SciTech, Jeremy Hsu, active cloaking, cloak, cloaking devices, earthquakes, invisibility cloak, natural disasters Tsunami, radar, sonar"The problem with metamaterials is that their behavior depends strongly on the frequency you are trying to cloak from," said Graeme Milton, a mathematician at the University of Utah. "So it is difficult to obtain broadband cloaking. Maybe you'd be invisible to red light, but people would see you in blue light."

By contrast, active cloaking could generate electromagnetic waves that adapt to match the frequency and amplitude of incoming waves. That creates the phenomenon known as destructive interference, where waves cancel each other out, much like how noise cancellation headsets work on sound waves.
The only mistake RC did was he cloaked with out telling anybody and hence the yield was muffled.

Now everybody is playing cloak and dagger.

The rest is BRF dhaga.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by SwamyG »

So if tests were done in a "hurry" in 1998, looks like the way things are progressing we are going to test in a "hurry" in 2009 too. Except that in 2009 the "public" and "world" are prepared/expecting some tests.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by ShauryaT »

pankajs wrote:Baap re, this guy does not mince words. He branded Kalam a politician. His statements are very emphatic.
Folks: Stay clear of either worshipping Kalam or making him as the know nothing guy. The fact is, he was the final arbiter for the government and still is. The fact is he sided with RC. The fact is he is a politician and has done yeoman service to the nation, even if technically not a scientist or a Doctor. I will take all his failures in missiles any day for what he has done with the IGMDP, given the Indian context. I wish there were more politicians like him.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Satya_anveshi »

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 92#p727492
amit wrote:Also is K Santhanam a qualified nuclear scientist?
From the above TOI-let report

>>>"What Santhanam said was absolutely correct," he added.

>>Sethna now in his eighties suggested that Kalam, who was heading the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) when Santhanam was coordinating Pokhran-II, suggested that the missile man was no qualified authority to rubbish his former colleague's claim.

>>But Sethna said "former president APJ Abdul Kalam was not a scientist and Santhanam is a physicist and he knew what he was talking.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by John Snow »

is it M N Srinivasan or M R srinivasan.

M R Srinivasan was AEC chairman

If Bharat Ratnas are made of glass beads we have a sorry state of affairs
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by vishwakarmaa »

There are two schools of thoughts emerging clearly.

First school, believes India need more tests to improvise and validate its nuclear bomb designs to be reliable in wartime. They believe when USA, Russia, French, UK, China are busy improving their Nuke designs, why India is shy and wasting time thinking about laws made by Gora(CTBT, ****** etc.)?

Second school, think that USA is our natural friend and we can fully trust their bombs. We don't need our own. We should focus on business and be happy. Outsource the subcontinent security to USA. Afterall, it was Pakistan who modified sea-based Harpoon missile into a land-based missile. (American explanation - a Jinn helped Pakistan get access to American missile codes to change its configuration). :rotfl:
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by pankajs »

Nuclear talks fail to take off after Pakistan protest
GENEVA: Arms negotiators failed to clear the way on Monday for the start of talks this year on nuclear disarmament as Pakistan said its security interests had not been respected.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by kenop »

GENEVA: Arms negotiators failed to clear the way on Monday for the start of talks this year on nuclear disarmament as Pakistan said its security interests had not been respected.
A few weeks ago Pakistan had expressed security concerns. There were a few reports. TOI-Late?
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by John Snow »

there are some great inputs from this reprort about how Signs works in India

APJ also witnessed the performance of Ramar Pillai. :mrgreen:

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?202305

So the DST denounced Pillai as "dishonest" and washed its hands of him. Reports, however, say that the DST was still willing to give him another chance, but Pillai’s public outburst against the scientists left it with no choice. Pillai, however, is unrepentant. He claims a foreign element sabotaged his experiment. Indeed, as if to prove his point, he repeated the experiment on October 3 in Hyderabad sponsored by Sanghi Industries. This time with a glass rod. Reportedly he was wildly applauded amidst slogans against the scientific community.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Kanson »

Neela wrote:You are mixing it all up. Kalam is NOT a nuclear scientist...
I too said, yes, ofcourse Kalam is NOT a nuclear scientist. You are also saying the samethig. And how that is a mix up?
he cannot comment on the yield. Period.
That IS the standard in the scientific world.
He may understand it. He may have his opinions. But he cannot exploit his public image, which I think he clearly DID.
When every jack, dick and harry are compenting on the yield why he cannot ? I didnt said he did. Infact Kalam never talked abt the yield. What he said is he only mentioned that after POK-II there was a detailed project review and the review agreed with the results. What is wrong in saying this ? And, why cant he say this ?
BC/BK RELY on someone to provide inputs and base their opinions on that. Would BC/BK rely on Kalam or someone with a background in Nuclear science?
RELY and RE-LIE, both has same pronounication. :mrgreen: Pls, they can only either rely or re-lie depending on whom they contact.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by enqyoob »

They seem to be talking freely about the fact that in 1995 there was preparation for tests, and it was detected by AmirKhan and called off following "heavy pressure". So I don't see that there was any need for hurry in preparations - the plan was all clearly laid out. Only thing that needed to be done was to camouflage the new activities.

Does anyone have info on the 1995 preparations? Were they in some other location, so did they have to move location in a hurry? Or were the shafts in place and ready for a long time, in which case all calculations of expected results were long-since done.

If it was in 1995, what would have been tested, and why was it desirable to test that? In 1998 it was 3 years later, and SeeTeeBeeTee tamasha was just over, so the priorities may have changed.

The Bissing contest between top-level desi ppl is REALLY disgusting. They should all be asked to shut up - unless this is all some BIG organized coverup for something very interesting.

FWIW, Shri Kalidasa was not an authority on Sri Lankan Royal Family naming conventions and pronunciation, but he was able to comment quite well on Rabhana, so I don't see all this "He Cannot Comment Because HIS PeeCheeDee is not in Nyookular Pissikcs.

I know some 400% saada idiots who went around flaunting their Nyoolkuar Pissicks PeeCheeDees. On BRF.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by pankajs »

kenop wrote:A few weeks ago Pakistan had expressed security concerns. There were a few reports. TOI-Late?
This is new one. Here is the one from Reuters.
Geneva nuclear arms talks fail to overcome block
Pakistan, which tested a nuclear weapon in 1998, says the implementing proposals could threaten its national security.

Its main concern is that the proposals would have the negotiations focus on the fissile material treaty, and not seek results in the other three areas, which it says are equally important.
But Pakistan feared such an approach would not take account of existing stocks, putting recent nuclear powers such as Pakistan at a disadvantage to the more established ones.
With recent investment in new reactors, it is understandable for Pakistan to feel the pinch.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by ShauryaT »

Folks: Think about it for a minute. RC, AK, APJ, Sikka and others, and even BM, MKN, MMS are not all liers. So are not KS, PKI, Sethna or even BK or BC and at one time, Kanwal, Adm. Raja Menon. Cannot reduce all of this to some psy-ops or personal/group vendettas and/or agendas. There is a serious disagreement in the establishment. What is needed here is a mechanism to resolve it.

If one of them has lied/misled, it will come out anyways. Trust but verify?
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by narayana »

kenop wrote:
shiv wrote:Regarding the story of India getting wind of Pakistani tests and testing in a hurry - I find it difficult to reconcile one point Why did India need to test in a hurry before they did? We would have had all the time in the world to watch them get sanctioned while diligently preparing for tests.

The "hurry" may have been Vajpayee and his earlier collapsed government perhaps?
PKI said "to be one up on them".
Ramana has explained the "hurry" above.

the hurry could have been that the governments majority was razor thin and there were indications that jayalalitha may pull the rug any time, then PM ABV,LK Advani and others knew that it was now or never,and instead of taking chance for the next government they decided to go ahead in national interest and history will remember .
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by pankajs »

narayana wrote:the hurry could have been that the governments majority was razor thin and there were indications that jayalalitha may pull the rug any time, then PM ABV,LK Advani and others knew that it was now or never,and instead of taking chance for the next government they decided to go ahead in national interest and history will remember .
For the same reason, to shore up the image of ABV and in effect put a lid on the fissiparous tendencies of the coalition.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Arun_S »

shiv wrote:On the topic of "discussion" and X tickling Y on his need to say mine is bigger let me start off on a new angle.. :lol:

What can a 150 kiloton bomb do that cannot be achieved by five 20 kioton bombs?
Five 20 KT can do nothing unless it first reach the target.

The lighter 150 KT TN OTOH can reach a target far in excess of teh five 20 kt. Conversly one needs 5 to 10 time more missiles, aircrafts, ships, subs to deliver the payload. Or indeed a PSLV to deliver 20 kt flower petals at range.

Let me rephrase the question differently.

Does anyone have any idea whether one could use available and limited supplies of fissile material more efficiently (in terms of number of weapons, cost and maintenance and use) if one had an arsenal of bigger bombs rather than smaller ones.
Good question. In terms of big (FBF) and small (FBF):

Code: Select all

                              Bigger ones,           Smaller ones
Number of weapons,             Fewer                    need many times larger qty
Cost                           decidedly cheaper        Mighty more expensive
Maintenance and security       decidedly cheaper        Much more expensive
Fissile material use               slight advantage     slight disadvantage       
What is the lower yield limit of an ideal thermonuclear weapon that meets the above requirements?
Let it be more clear. Nuclear Weapon are tailor made system of warhead and delivery vehicle combination. Thus Sagarika, A1, A2,A3,A5 all will have a different ideal TN yield depending on CEP (which is amongst others a function fo range) of non-MIRV/MIRV configuration.

Thus IMHO the ideal yield for these different weapons will be between 100 and 400 kT.
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Post by ShauryaT »

pankajs wrote: For the same reason, to shore up the image of ABV and in effect put a lid on the fissiparous tendencies of the coalition.
Also, the wily ABV brought upon Kargil, IC 814, Parliament and other attacks, Parakram, Kaluchak -- all to keep him in power. Wow! I mean Wow! Can we stop this?
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Arun_S »

Kanson wrote:Why Kalam ? Becoz Kalam supported RC. So it is. Now, if Kalam cant talk abt Nuclear matters, ofcourse he is not a nuclear scientist, then BK/BC et al cannot even utter the word "nuclear" in their talk. You know Kalam started the Prithivi program and you know what is the payload of it. From that time to establishing the N command, he has played a role in all these thing.
How much more Hyperbole one can throw?

One can more realistically say that Kalam knows ziltch about strategic policy (he admits that in WOP) and BK/BC/UB/KSubramanyam are the masters.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by pankajs »

ShauryaT wrote:
pankajs wrote: For the same reason, to shore up the image of ABV and in effect put a lid on the fissiparous tendencies of the coalition.
Also, the wily ABV brought upon Kargil, IC 814, Parliament and other attacks, Parakram, Kaluchak -- all to keep him in power. Wow! I mean Wow! Can we stop this?
Saar, I can only say that ABV is still remembered for Pokhran II in a very positive way. It is regarded as his legacy. It has enhanced his image like no other event in his 5 years. You have taken it in a different sense. Tell me which of the others have enhanced his image.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by ShauryaT »

Shivji: There is another way to answer your questions on range/payload/deterrence equations. Which desi or phoren MAD people or nations have articulated a deterrence strategy for India that articulate all these equations in a coherent manner and come to the conclusion that large numbers of 20KT weapons are enough for us.

The few I have read, who provide a coherent approach to this issue do not come to this conclusion. There are many "respected", who have thrown in all kinds of numbers.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by PratikDas »

NRao wrote:
Times Now has contacts in the US deep inside the nuclear establlishment?
Nope. Times Now ka Bap has contacts: GoI - or some within GoI. I suspect some within GoI have contacts within Times Now.

Well............................. get ready .................................... India will test and then sign.

Both sides happy.
Raoji, I enjoy reading your well balanced posts so this is not a knock, but is there really any chance of MMS approving a test when the text of the nuclear agreement supposedly renders the agreement null and void if India tests again?
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by ramana »

So pankajs, isnt that a caution to be sure to post unambigous statements in these politically charged times?

All, please no trolling. Those roles are already taken.
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Post by pankajs »

Saar, will keep that in mind. I try to keep my posts short because I am lazy.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Kanson »

Arun_S wrote:
Kanson wrote:Why Kalam ? Becoz Kalam supported RC. So it is. Now, if Kalam cant talk abt Nuclear matters, ofcourse he is not a nuclear scientist, then BK/BC et al cannot even utter the word "nuclear" in their talk. You know Kalam started the Prithivi program and you know what is the payload of it. From that time to establishing the N command, he has played a role in all these thing.
How much more Hyperbole one can throw?

One can more realistically say that Kalam knows ziltch about strategic policy (he admits that in WOP) and BK/BC/UB/KSubramanyam are the masters.
Policy cant happen in vaccum. If it, then that is hyperbole. Policy has to leverage upon some platform. Kalam was instrumental in providing that platform.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by ramana »

N^3, there is only one well known shaft capable of large yield test. The shaft was started by Mrs G in 1982(?) after getting relected. She decided not to test when a bunch of PMO petty clerks copied her papers and traded them for bottle of whisky. That was the famous SLM- spy scandal. Umrao Jaan might recall the scandal.
In 1995 Rao wanted to test as the NPT was extended indefinitely as opposed to another 25 years as he was promised in 1993 visit. While the test prep was detected and pictures shown to him, it is also possible that he wanted them to be known and was not really ready to test having authorised the TN weapon only that year. That is what a few newspaper editors, of those days, were saying. Rao was so Chankian that only a Chanakya could fathom his mind. But ABV says he handed him a slip of paper and it said go test. And that was in 1996 during the short lived govt. While AbV wanted to go ahead upon council and reflection he was not keen to leave the next govt the fallout.

Its to Gowda and Gujral credit that a further two shafts were dug and these were used for the S-4 & S-5 on May13.All thisis inthe WOP by Chengappa.


As to what was to be tested in 1995? Well again the idea of 1982 shaft was to test a boosted fission weapon. And knowing the shaft was used for a TN in 1998, one can guess its yeild.

Until 1998 tests of S-1 and S-3, Indian tests were always confirmatory and not for data gathering.

IMO, even S-1 was like that but had to be downgraded to data gathering.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by sudeepj »

shiv wrote:
pankajs wrote: For the S1, the device was placed at around 200m depth (memory). Now if masking was planned it would have to be deeper or it would not be contained.

JMT
I don't know. It was above the water table and it nearly blew the top off and vented. If it was a fizzle and not a designed yield then it was a big risk. Either they knew it would fizzle or..

And its seismic signature is likely to have been masked so nobody (neither desis nor firangis) would have a clue.

The May 13 tests were not picked up at all. If India has tested another 50 0.5 kt nukes in that area - nobody will know.
Shiv,

The shaft was below the water table, as per descriptions by Santhanam ('water sloshing about, cascades inside shafts') quoted first by pankajs. (http://www.hindustantimes.com/News/newd ... 10058.aspx)

IMHO, being below the water table is not such a big deal and does not automatically imply radioactive contamination of underground water. The water table itself exists because there is an impervious layer of rock below it, granite or clay or ... The underground acquifiers in the region are not large/deap and a lot of the times are seasonal and with low discharge rates. You merely have to go a sufficient depth below the water table and below the impervious layer, and make arrangements to pump out the seeping water. Additional mitigation can be done by having more tubewells around the area.

The temporary mound thrown up in the video shown is for the fission or boosted fission device. The TN device had very little surface disturbance (per WOP).
Last edited by sudeepj on 01 Sep 2009 23:21, edited 1 time in total.
NRao
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by NRao »

PratikDas wrote: ........... is there really any chance of MMS approving a test when the text of the nuclear agreement supposedly renders the agreement null and void if India tests again?
The question I have is did that "agreement" have any CTBT agreement built into it. I doubt it - considering this whole stuff has been a 'kick-that-can' affair.

Now with Obama pushing for CTBT (at least) there has to be some rethinking within MMS camp. IMHO, that means a new agreement. Furthermore, I am of the opinion that Obama is not out to screw anyone. So, ................... if that holds, Obama should be open to a quick test - while he away on vacation on Martha's V.

CTBT is a lot more important to him and IF he can get India to back him there is no card as good as that.

A new ball game, with new rules, IMHO.

JMT.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by sudeepj »

shiv wrote:On the question of "reassuring the people" (apart from the highly aware elite such as we are) - I would love to be pointed to publicly available videos of underground tests made by other nations. I am guessing that this has not been necessary because every country has earlier done atmospheric tests and have pretty fireballs to demonstrate.
I remember seeing an aerial shot of a Chinese test on DD when I was young. They had a large semi-circle of trucks (presumably with instrumentation inside). The test resulted in the regulation seismic waves and a subsidence crater that stopped a few tens of meters from the trucks.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by Gagan »

1. But S-3,4 & 5 were all for data gathering. S-1 too.
2. There were 3 shafts in Navtala. N-1,2 & 3. These were all dry wells which were deepened to 50 m depth then covered with a sand dune after the device was in place.
S-6 which was taken out was in Navtala-3 (also likely to be a 50m shaft), this means that S-6 was also a subkiloton test.
3. The smoke that we all see before the actual nuke explosion in the youtube video is from a smoke cannister, which was left in place to mark the test site. From How the CIA was fooled
A few brisk orders and the dozers started pushing huge mounds of sand into the well. Men with shovels joined the activity and within an hour they had not only sealed the well but also built a mini-mountain of sand around it. They then unwound a huge reel of wrist-thick cables till the black wire snaked all over the place. Satisfied they took out smoke canisters, placed a dozen on the mound they had just built and lit them up.
4. A nuclear test shaft is not a straight well. It is a curving cavern within a well which will auto seal itself when the bomb explodes. Venting occurs because the explosion is not contained by the earth above it and reaches the surface.
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Re: Pokhran II not fully successful: Scientist

Post by enqyoob »

With so many code names or words around, the conversation at times was bewildering even to those who were part of the loop. At least one top scientist told the team that he found it easier to do his physics calculations than decipher the code language. Would they please stick to normal words so that he could get his work done? The team demurred.
Ah! So we have some Top Scientists here too, :(( about the halal pingreji.
The device in NT 3 was pulled out and taken back under orders from R. Chidambaram, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman, because he felt the team had the results they wanted with just five blasts. As he told the team laconically, "Why waste it?"
On the morning of May 11, Major Mohan Kumar Sharma of the 58 Engineers drove up and requested Sohanram to keep the schoolchildren outdoors for a couple of hours.
IOW, there was no evacuation. Just a precautionary measure to get people out of their homes. Chalta hai. Good thing the fizzle fizzled or they would all have been dead. :roll:

Gagan, the smoke bombs were completely different - they were to obscure the sand movement from satellites. Not at all the same as the black SDRE jets shooting out as the test occurred.
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