After 11 years of the Pokhran II test, K. Santhanam, then director of the preparation site for the nuclear test, told in an interview of the leading English daily in India (the Times of India) that the yield of thermonuclear explosion (Shakti I) was much lower than expected. A test is described to fail or fizzle if it doesn’t meet the desired yield. The device expected to have yielded 45KT but the seismic centres stationed outside India believed that the yield was mere 20KT, describing the test as fizzled.

K. Santhanam recently advised the government not to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), as India needs more test to fully develop the thermonuclear device.

Security expert, Bharat Karnad, supports the Santhanam’s admission, as this is the first time a nuclear scientist and one who was closely associated with the tests in 1998, said something against the government’s statements.

"This means the government has to do something. Either you don't have a thermonuclear deterrent or prove that you have it, if you claim to have it," said Karnad.

The Indian government is continues to say that the test of the thermonuclear device gave the desired result. The government argues that the three tests were done simultaneously and hence there was a conflict between the seismic waves released from different devices, that could have altered the results recorded by the Seismic stations which were located very far from the testing sites outside India.

Challenging these claims, British experts declared the combined yield for the fission device and thermonuclear bomb not having more than 20 KT.

The government has already signed many treaties of peaceful use of nuclear power. It tried very hard to win the faith of Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), IAEA, and other countries like Australia, Russia, France, and U.S. by signing the Indo-U.S nuclear deal. India, if it continues testing the nuclear device, might upset these group of nation and may fall under imposed sanctions once again, losing trust of the international diplomats.

Hearing the news of failed thermonuclear test by India, Pakistan celebrated the day with fireworks and music.

Read more:

1.India's failed thermonuclear weapon - beginning and preparation of Pokhran II
2.India's failed thermonuclear weapon - International and Domestic reactions
3.India's failed thermonuclear weapon - Devices and Detonation
4.India's failed thermonuclear weapon - Admission by the director after 11 years
5.India's failed thermonuclear weapon - Clinton delinked Indo-US deal from CTBT