On this day in 1974, India detonated a low-yield device (8 kilotons) under the Rajasthan desert at Pokhran. Code-named “Smiling Buddha”, the “peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE)” was also the first confirmed nuclear test by a country outside the P5 nuke states codified by the NPT. India famously developed and executed the test weapon from materials sold to it by the Canadian Government. Cue the Nuclear Suppliers Group!
