Nuclear Proliferation and the Indian Explosion
Abstract
India's detonation of a nuclear device beneath the surface of the Rajasthan Desert on 18 May 1974 was a "shot heard around the world." Now that more than a year has passed, we can attempt at least a tentative assessment of the significance of the Indian nuclear explosion, as it affects both India and the international problem of checking the further proliferation of nuclear weapons. The most immediately apparent significance of the Indian nuclear explosion was to mark the failure of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to exercise an entirely effective political restraint over the will of non-nuclear-weapon states to develop nuclear weapons. Admittedly, India had not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and indeed had criticized the treaty as discriminatory on the grounds that it allows states which already possess nuclear weapons to retain them while denying others the right to exploit nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Nonetheless, the hope existed that the widespread support of the treaty (at that time 83 ratifications, and 23 signatories which had not yet ratified) would constitute a norm of behavior which would be followed not only by the parties to the treaty but by other nations as well. India's action in exploding a nuclear device ran counter to Article II of the treaty which provides that non-nuclear-weapon states undertake not to manufacture nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. No failure or violation of technical controls was involved. The plutonium for the explosion was derived from the Canadian-assisted research reactor at Trombay. It was not a reactor operating under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards; what failed, or rather was subject to misinterpretation by both sides, was a basically unpoliced "gentleman's agreement" between India and Canada.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA531983
Entities
People
- Archer K. Blood
Organizations
- United States Army War College