Pokhran Test Range
Pokhran is an apex research and testing site of the Indian nuclear programme. The site was built by Indian Army Corps of Engineers and is under the control of Indian Army. It is unclear when the site was built but it shot into the international limelight on 7 September 1974 when the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi verbally authorized scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Trombay to detonate small and miniaturized nuclear device. Throughout its development, the device was formally called the "Peaceful Nuclear Explosive (PNE)" by Indian Government, but it was usually referred to as the Operation Smiling Buddha. The Indian government, however, declared that it was not going to make nuclear weapons even though it had acquired the capacity to do so. It claimed that the Pokhran explosion was an effort to harness atomic energy for peaceful purposes and to make India self-reliant in nuclear technology, but subsequently, India conducted five nuclear tests on 11 May and 13 May 1998
Read more about this topic: Pokhran
Famous quotes containing the words test and/or range:
“Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern this nation. This difficult effort will be the “moral equivalent of war,” except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not to destroy.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“A girl must allow others to share the responsibility for care, thus enabling others to care for her. She must learn how to care in ways appropriate to her age, her desires, and her needs; she then acts with authenticity. She must be allowed the freedom not to care; she then has access to a wide range of feelings and is able to care more fully.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)