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Smiling Buddha (MEA designation: Pokhran-I) was the code name of India's first successful nuclear weapon test on 18 May 1974. The nuclear fission bomb was detonated in the Pokhran Test Range of the Indian Army in Rajasthan. As per the United States military intelligence, the operation was named as Happy Krishna. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described the test as a peaceful nuclear explosion.
The bomb was built by scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) headed by Raja Ramanna, in assistance with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) headed by B. D. Nag Chaudhuri under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Commission headed by Homi Sethna. A CIRUS reactor nuclear reactor given by Canada and heavy water (used as a neutron moderator) supplied by the United States were used in the production of nuclear material for the bomb. The preparations for the test and the detonation was conducted in extreme secrecy. It was tightly controlled by prime minister Indira Gandhi with very few people outside the team of scientists being aware of the test.
The device was of the implosion-type design with a plutonium core. It had a hexagonal cross section, in diameter, and weighed . It was assembled, mounted on a hexagonal metal tripod, and was transported to the test site on rails. The test was conducted at 8.05 IST on 18 May 1974. The data on the exact nuclear yield of the test has been varied and scarce, and sources indicate that the bomb might have yielded between six and ten .
It was the first confirmed nuclear weapons test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The test led to the formation of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to control nuclear proliferation. After the test, India carried out a series of nuclear tests named Pokhran-II in 1998.
The civilian nuclear program to produce electricity from nuclear energy was also established during this period with plans to construct new nuclear power plants for the purpose. Nehru's discussions with Bhabha and Kenneth Nichols, a US Army engineer, showed his approach and intention to create nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence. In 1962, India was engaged in a Sino-Indian War and with China pursuing its own atomic development programme, it accelerated India's need to develop nuclear weapons. During this period, India signed an agreement with Soviet Union to help build nuclear reactors in India.
After Shastri's death in 1966, Indira Gandhi became the prime minister and work on the nuclear weapons programme resumed. Homi Sethna, a chemical engineer, was put in charge of plutonium development. The project for the design and manufacturing of the nuclear device employed just 75 scientists because of the secret nature of the project. Ramanna led the project with P. K. Iyengar serving as his deputy and the leadership team also included Sethna and Sarabhai. The weapons programme was directed towards the production of plutonium rather than uranium and then in 1969, enough plutonium had been accumulated for the production of a single nuclear bomb. In 1968–69, Iyengar led a team to the Soviet Union and toured the nuclear research facilities at Dubna. Upon his return to India, Iyengar set about developing a plutonium fueled fast breeder reactor named Purnima under Mahadeva Srinivasan. In 1969, R. Chidambaram was engaged for researching the use of plutonium.
Simultaneous work on the fabrication of the bomb core and implosion design was conducted by teams led by physicist V. S. Ramamurthy. The detonation system development began in April 1970 with Pranab R. Dastidar collaborating with W. D. Patwardhan at the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (ERDL) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). In July, physicist B. D. Nagchaudhuri was appointed as the scientific adviser to the Defense Minister and as Director of the DRDO. Nagchaudhuri and Ramanna worked together to recruit the team and set up the requirements necessary for a nuclear weapon test. Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) of the DRDO developed the explosive lenses for the implosion system. Srinivasan and K. Subba Rao were tasked with developing fission models and prediction of the test's efficiency. In April 1971, Nagchaudhuri appointed N. S. Venkatesan as the new Director of TBRL to help develop the implosion system. V.K. Iya was in charge of developing the neutron initiator system. In the same year, Sethna succeeded Sarabhai as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
In December 1971, during the Indo-Pakistani War, the U.S. government sent a carrier battle group led by the into the Bay of Bengal in an attempt to intimidate India. The Soviet Union responded by sending its own naval force to deter the U.S. from involving militarily. This event is indicated as a reason for India's pursuance of the nuclear programme. After India gained military and political initiative over Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the work on building a nuclear device continued. The hardware began to be built in early 1972 and the Prime Minister authorised the development of a nuclear test device in September 1972.
The nuclear yield of the test has been difficult to determine with unclear data provided by Indian sources. Although politicians had given multiple numbers ranging from 2 Kiloton to 20 kt, the official yield was initially set at 12 kt. Independent seismic data from outside and analysis of the crater features indicated a lower figure. Analysts estimate the yield at 4 to 6 kt, using conventional seismic magnitude-to-yield conversion formulas. Later, both Sethna and Iyengar conceded the official yield to be an exaggeration. Iyengar has stated that the yield was 8–10 kt, that the device was designed to yield 10 kt, and that the yield was 8 kt "exactly as predicted".
The plutonium used in the test had been enriched in the reactor supplied by Canada, using heavy water (used as neutron moderator) supplied by the United States. Both the countries reacted negatively, especially in light of then ongoing negotiations on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the economic aid both countries had provided to India. Canada concluded that the test violated a 1971 understanding between the two states, and froze nuclear energy assistance for the two heavy water reactors then under construction. However, the United States concluded that the test did not violate any agreement and proceeded with a June 1974 shipment of enriched uranium for the Tarapur reactor. New Zealand's Prime Minister Norman Kirk commented that, "The announcement of an underground nuclear explosion by India raises more urgently than ever the need for international agreement to end all nuclear testing."
Pakistan did not view the test as a peaceful nuclear explosion, and cancelled scheduled talks with India. In June 1974, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said that Pakistan considered this as an intimidation and would not accept India's superiority in the subcontinent. In 2011, Pakistani Nuclear physics Pervez Hoodbhoy stated that he believed the test pressed Pakistan into developing nuclear weapons of its own.
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