The Kharan Desert is a sandy and mountainous desert, with very high temperatures.[5] The region is characterised by very low rainfall, high summer temperature, high velocity winds, poor soils, very sparse vegetation and a low diversity of plant species; its average temperature are recorded 55 °C (131 °F) in summer and 2.5 °C (36.5 °F) in winter session (sources vary).[3][6][7][8]
Safety and security required an isolated, remote, and inhabitant area with extreme weather conditions to prevent any possible Radioactive Fallout.[9] For this purpose, a three-dimensionalsurvey was commenced by nuclear physicist Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad assisted by seismologist Dr. Ahsan Mubarak; it received final approval from Munir Ahmad in 1976.[10] Unlike the granite mountains, the PAEC requirement was to find a suitable site in a desert region with almost no wildlife to prevent any kind of mutation, and to study blast effects of the weapons.[11]
The weapon-testing sites were suspected to be located at Kharan, in a desert valley between the Ras Koh region to the north and Siahan Range to the south.[12] Subsequently, the Chagai-Ras Koh-Kharan were cordoned off, becoming restricted entry zones closed to the public.[12]
According to the PAEC, the weapon-testing labs were deeply crafted, L-shaped horizontal tunnels.[13] A close depiction can be seen in diagram d, e, and f. The tests left a crater as its mark, similar to the illustration above.
The Special Development Works (SDW), assisted by the Corps of Engineers, Pakistan Army Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (PEME), and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), spearheaded the engineering of the potential sites.[14] The military engineers were well aware of satellite detection, therefore the site at Kharan was constructed with extra cautions.[15] The SDW built around 24 cold test sites, 46 short tunnels, and 35 underground accommodations for troops and command, control and monitoring facilities.[16] The test site was 300 by 200 feet (91 by 61 m) and was L-shaped horizontal shafts.[17] Extensive installations of diagnostic cables, motion sensors, and monitoring stations were established inside the test site.[18] It took nearly 2–3 years for the SDW to prepare and preparations were completed in 1980, before Pakistan acquired the capability to physically develop an atomic bomb.[10]
After posting at the General Headquarters, Sarfraz transferred the work to Lieutenant-General Zahid Ali Akbar, the Engineer-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers.[19] The modernisation of the tests labs were undertaken by the FWO; the FWO uncredited work in the construction of the weapon-testings labs in Kharan Desert, and had supervised the entire construction on the sites along with the SDW.[20]
A crater now takes the place of what used to be a small hillock in the rolling desert, marking the ground zero of the nuclear test.[10] The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (or PAEC) had tested one or more plutonium nuclear devices, and the results and data of the devices were successful as was expected by the Pakistan's mathematicians and seismologists.[10][26]
^Pakistan 360. "Kharan Desert". pakistan360degrees.com/. Pakistan 360. Archived from the original on 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2015-06-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ abcdefghiAzam, Rai Muhammad Saleh (June 2000). "When Mountains Move". Rai Muhammad Saleh Azam. Karachi, Pakistan: The Nation (1999) and Defence Journal (2000). p. 1. Retrieved 2012-05-08.[permanent dead link]
"KNET recording of second Pakistani nuclear test waveforms". Broadband Seismic Data Collection Center. Broadband Seismic Data Collection Center, Pakistan Atomic Scientist Federation (PASF), Pakistan Nuclear Society, Pakistan Seismic Department (PAEC), and Pakistan Meteorological Department. 23 November 2010. Archived from the original(php) on 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
