India’s First Nuclear Programme

The division of British India in August 1947 resulted in creating the sovereign Republic of India and the dominion of Pakistan. Shortly afterwards, a team of Indian scientists led by researcher Homi Bhabha dubbed “the Indian Oppenheimer”, persuaded Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to engage in nuclear energy projects. The Indian Atomic Energy Commission was established by the Atomic Energy Act of 1948 to “provide for the design and operation of atomic energy and activities associated with it”. Initially, Indian nuclear efforts focused on creating atomic energy instead of weapons. Subsequently instituting the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the nuclear program boosted its development.

First Nuclear Program 

BARC, the Indian version of Los Alamos, was the primary research site for India’s nuclear program. There was also a significant rise in government expenditure on atomic and worldwide scientific interaction research. Homi Jehangir Bhabha directed the nuclear program toward weapon design and manufacturing in 1954. Two significant infrastructure projects have been launched. The first project was the establishment of the Trombay Atomic Energy Establishment in Mumbai. The other established the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), of which Bhabha was the first director. In 1955, Canada committed to supplying India with a nuclear reactor based on the Chalk River National Research Experimental Reactor (NRX). Under the “Atoms for Peace” initiative, the United States promised to provide heavy water for the reactor. The Canada India Reactor Utility Services, more generally known as CIRUS, became essential in July 1960. Despite its benign intentions, CIRUS provided most of the weapons-grade plutonium utilised in India’s first nuclear test. From 1956 to 66, India engaged in various technological operations, including uranium separation and purification, fuel manufacture, reactor control and equipment handling, research reactor building, isotope distinction, radiation treatment, and vacuum technology. After defeat in the 1962 Indo-China war, Homi J Bhabha started his utmost efforts to make India nuclear-powered.

In one lecture, Homi Bhabha encouraged the Indian Government to support an atomic bomb program, stating that “atomic weapons offer a State owning them in sufficient numbers a deterrent force against invasion by a much stronger State.”. The bomb was opposed by Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, but Bhabha persuaded him that India could employ nuclear weapons for peaceful reasons such as engineering. According to Bhabha, India researched “peaceful nuclear explosions” rather than nuclear weapons (PNEs). “I don’t know what may happen later,” Shastri remarked, “but our current policy is not to make an atom bomb, and it is the right policy.”. Concurrently, Bhabha regularly urged the US to assist Indian PNEs through its Project Plowshare program. Bhabha visited Washington, DC, in February 1965 to advocate the concept of nuclear collaboration; however, the USA rejected his concept.

Homi J Bhabha is widely regarded as the father of Indian nuclear power. Furthermore, he is credited with devising a plan to obtain electricity from the country’s large thorium deposits rather than its meagre uranium reserves. This thorium-focused policy stands in opposition to every other country. Bhabha’s method to achieve this specific plan became India’s three-stage nuclear power project.

The reasoning for the three-stage strategy was explained by Bhabha as follows: 

• In India, total thorium deposits in readily extractable form exceed 500,000 tonnes, while known uranium deposits are less than a tenth of this. The goal of India’s long-term atomic power program must thus be to base nuclear power generation as quickly as feasible on thorium rather than uranium 
• The first generation of atomic power plants based on natural uranium can only be utilised to kick-start an atomic power program
• The plutonium generated by the first generation of power plants can be utilised in the 2nd generation of nuclear reactors designed to generate electricity while converting thorium into U-233 or radionuclides into additional plutonium

The Indian nuclear program saw substantial developments in 1966. In January, Prime Minister Shastri died of heart failure, and Indira Gandhi, the daughter of previous Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and a staunch supporter of nuclear weapons, took his spot. Homi Bhabha perished in an aircraft crash less than two weeks later. Raja Ramanna, a physicist who began working for Bhabha in 1964, was designated the new chief of BARC and was the primary designer of India’s first nuclear weapon.

After inspecting the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in September 1972, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi formally adopted a nuclear test. “There was never a debate among us about whether or not we should develop the bomb,” Raja Ramanna stated emphatically. “It was more vital to know how to accomplish it.” It was a question of status for us, a way to legitimise our old Homi J Bhabha history.

Ramanna oversaw a team of 75 scientists at BARC that designed and manufactured the plutonium bursting device. The arrangements for the test were maintained as privately as possible. The Indian Army dug a 330-foot-deep test hole at the Pokhran test site, around 300 miles southwest of New Delhi. On May 18, 1974, the 3,000-pound explosive burst with an 8-kiloton force equivalency. Ramanna allegedly alerted Gandhi of the successful test by sending a secret signal, “The Buddha is smiling.”. Despite being generally regarded as Pokhran I, the 1974 test was dubbed “Smiling Buddha” and is still often known. Here the first nuclear program of India ended, and then A P J Abdul Kalam led this program.

Conclusion

Lastly, it is concluded that Homi J Bhabha’s early-fifties vision of an Indian nuclear power program has been built and successfully implemented using indigenous efforts. As a result, the country has joined the exclusive club of countries with developed nuclear technology. Several technical revolutions have occurred in the country’s history and the development of commercial nuclear technology. While developing and implementing the nuclear power program, Indian industry expertise in manufacturing and supplying high precision and specialised equipment similar to international standards has also been established. Atomic power has matured, with full capability in all elements of nuclear power, and is set for significant development. The challenge is to carry out the three-stage program, develop and commercialise thorium usage technologies, and maintain the country’s security.