New debate about an old 4 kT bang

When on May 11, 1998 India tested nuclear explosives, there was considerable doubt about whether we had tested a bona fide thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb. Every country's strategic nuclear deterrent has thermonuclear weapons, and to announce itself as a 'true' nuclear weapons power India had to demonstrate that we had the capability to build hydrogen bombs. However most outside sources did not believe we had tested a true thermonuclear.

Curiously we seem to have largely bluffed then about the yield, and now the debate seems to have been ignited again with a statement by P. Santhanam of the DAE who accepts that our purported thermonuclear might have fizzled out. Surprisingly, at the same time there seem to be statements from individuals as august as A P J Abdul Kalam who contends that the tests provided the "designed yield"...

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