fission device could qualify as "thermonuclear." Indian scientists tried to dispel that interpretation at a press conference, where they correctly defined a hydrogen bomb as one with two stages, in which a fission primary sets off a hydrogen-fueled secondary; they claimed that was what they had tested. When challenged that a 43-kiloton "thermonuclear" bomb was too small to qualify, they stated that they reduced the yield because the village of Khetolai was only five kilometers away. (It was later reported that more than 40 percent of the structures in the village had sustained some damage.) |