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May 14, 1964

Research Memorandum INR-16 from Thomas L. Hughes to the Secretary, 'Indian Nuclear Weapons Development'

This document was made possible with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY)

An intelligence report that the fuel core of the Canadian-Indian Reactor (CIR) at Trombay was being changed every six months raised questions about India’s nuclear objectives: a six-month period was quite short for “normal research reactor operations,” but it was the optimum time for using the CIR’s spent fuel for producing weapons grade plutonium. According to INR, India had taken the “first deliberate decision in the series leading to a nuclear weapon,” which was to have “available, on demand, unsafeguarded weapons-grade plutonium or, at the least, the capacity to produce it.”


Document Information

Source

RG 59, Entry UD-UP 136, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Reports Coordination and Review Staff, Research Memoranda 1962-1965, box 144, INR-16-RM

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Original Uploaded Date

2016-05-17

Type

Memorandum

Language

Record ID

134054

Original Classification

Secret

Donors

Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY)