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Comment by niftich | Hacker News Reader

[1] Canada blamed for India's 'peaceful' bomb [Radio broadcast]. (1974, May 20). In As It Happens. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1974-canada-blamed-for-ind...

[2] Perkovich, G. (2001). India's nuclear bomb: The impact on global proliferation. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. <https://books.google.com/books?id=UDA9dUryS8EC>

[3] Ramana, M V (2012). The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India. Penguin Books Limited. <https://books.google.com/books?id=5m8Atq0ncrwC>

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Quoting your CBC citation:

"The nuclear device was built using plutonium obtained from the 40-megawatt Cirus research reactor, a gift from Canada"

Plutonium, the raw material (also) used for making bombs, was "donated". And apparently a working "research" reactor. A bomb design was certainly not donated, nor is it evident that Canada intended to transfer nuclear tech intellectual property, all the article claims was Canada's intent to sell working reactors and fuel, not designs, to India. FYI - Canada wouldn't have wanted India to have nuclear IP, for fear of cannibalising it's nuclear revenue stream of fuel and reactors to India!!

Just the be clear, 31 countries have working nuclear power reactors, while only 7 have bombs. Unless you intend to undermine India's indigenous nuclear capabilities, all this hand waving about Canada "donating" designs doesn't hold up. After all, we're talking about the most lethal of weapons here, not candies that are casually "donated". Western intelligence agencies have a storied history of preventing nuclearization. India got nuclear despite the West, not because of

I think OP is suggesting that Canada donated the reactor design, not a blueprint for a nuclear bomb.

Yep. Hell, as far as I know, we've never even designed a nuclear bomb, and the only nukes on Canadian soil were American built and controlled, and gone as soon as they were no longer needed up here.

But the suggestion is inaccurate, based on the OP's own citation. Reactor design IP is a closely guarded secret, heavily regulated and controlled to prevent nuclearization of other countries.

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