A nuclear catastrophe lying in the Himalayas

When the world of the 1960s was going through an escalation of the cold world war because of geopolitical tension and the race for nuclear arms- an incident in Asia happened that has the potential to not only destroy the lives of billions living there but can also harm the world greatly.

After the India-china war (Sino-Indian war) of 1962 and the first nuclear test of china in 1964, India was worried about china. Not only India, but the USA was also concerned about the nuclear race of China. Moreover, the involvement of China in the Vietnam war was increasing concerns. So, India and the USA both wanted to spy on the nuclear missions of china. The USA might have got the CIA to join hands with some other countries or would have done the mission alone, but the geographic location and geopolitics made the CIA tie up with India’s Intelligence Agency, Intelligence Bureau (IB).

China did its first nuclear test in Xinjiang province (shown in red color above), which shares a border with countries of Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

China needed four to five more nuclear tests to develop a nuclear bomb, and it was guaranteed that China would do it in Xinjiang itself. So, the aim was to monitor the energy yields of the subsequent nuclear tests. Therefore, as Nuclear tests are done, radio signals would have generated and detecting it, some secrets of the nuclear testing would be out.

To capture radiation, other than mountains, there cannot be the best place. Hence, the second-highest mountain in India, Nanda Devi, was selected. The mountain is named after the Temperamental goddess, “Nanda”, which means “Bliss-Giving Goddess”. The localities revere the goddess and its believers take out processions to appease her.

The mission was to install a remote sensing station on the Nanda Devi at a height of 25,645 feet (7,817 m). Using helicopters, the station could have established but there was a danger of divulgement. As a result, a team under the leadership of the commander of the Indian Navy, Mohan Singh Kohli (M.S. Kohli) was set up. The mission of installing named "Operation Hat ". The team had famous American mountaineers like- Dr. Robert Schaller, Tom Frost, and Jim McCarthy. India’s famous mountaineers like- Sonam Wangyal, HCS Rawat and GS Rhangu were also part of it. Each mountaineer in the team was paid a total amount of $1000 per month as remuneration.

The team had a task to install surveillance equipment weighing 56 kilograms which would serve the purpose of remote sensing station. The equipment contained an 8-10 feet high antenna, two transceiver (Transmitter-cum-receiver) sets, and Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power-19C (SNAP-19C).

Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power-19C (SNAP-19C) is a device powered by an alloy of plutonium and zirconium which converts heat energy produced by its fuel to electricity.

The mission was not at all easy. It had challenges of- climbing the mountain in the icy winds of the temperamental mountain with help of snow-covered stones, a decrease in oxygen content with increasing altitudes and carrying the devices weighing 56 kg to a height with care.

The team led by M.S. Kohli started the mission with the instruments along with food supplies and oxygen. They reached camp-4 at the altitude of 24,000 above sea level and things went wrong—A vicious blizzard started blowing and there were no signs of weather becoming normal. The captain now had a choice either to save the lives of everyone and keep that equipment there or give preference to the equipment over human lives—The toughest choice, what to choose between man and machine because he couldn’t choose both.

M.S. Kohli had always emphasised whenever he was asked regarding the decision he took, “the safety of mountaineers was my priority”. So the mountaineers kept the equipment in the small cave-like sturdy structure and tied it to a small cliff. They returned on October 18, 1965.

The winters were around the corner and another attempt at climbing the mountain, notorious for its weather would be fatal. So, team waited for the summer.

In May 1966, when Kohli and its team went to camp-4, everything—antenna, both transceivers and the most important SANS-19C was missing.

Probably Blizzard and snow slides made them missing. It was the misfortune of losing all devices but losing SANS-19C was not merely a misfortune but, also extremely virulent for everyone.

The hazard of it can be understood as it contained half of the amount of plutonium compared to the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima. Plutonium was mainly Pu-238 having about 18% of Pu-239 as an impurity. The Plutonium fuel was divided into 7 capsules and the device was equipped to give a power of 40W continuous for two years.

The missing Instruments shook IB and CIA; two new specially designed and modified helicopters were bought from Europe but they failed to search it. Also, many search operations were launched hand-in-hand, but all failed to locate the device. For many years, Nanda Devi was closed for expeditions and search operations went on.

Getting SNAP-19C is very crucial because it has radioactive plutonium-238 which has a half-life of 87.7 years. This means that after 87.7, the intensity of it would be half of the initial. But even if Plutonium gets half, the threat won’t be reduced because it would get converted into another radioactive element, Uranium-234 which has a half-life of whooping 2,45,500 years!

The key question that arises is where it went and what could be its consequences. Well, the exact answer to this question has not got yet. Many controversial theories had taken birth looking for distinct possibilities but none could be proved.

Whatever could be the claims of the people, experts deny the possibility of the theories claiming the absence of deadly nuclear capsules in the mountain and damages due to it would be certainly noticed. Why do Experts claim that? What is the status of the search operation? Did the CIA and IB close “operation Hat”? Was the Nanda Devi incident a part of some conspiracy and how did the news of the secret mission went wrong got leaked? Stay tuned for the next episode!