A lost CIA nuclear device in the Himalayas poses an ongoing threat

According to The New York Times (NYT), the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) lost a radioisotope generator containing plutonium during a secret operation on Nanda Devi mountain in India in 1965.

American and Indian climbers aimed to install monitoring equipment on Nanda Devi, the country’s second-highest peak at 7,816 meters, to track China’s nuclear tests.

The team set out to carry a 22-kilogram portable nuclear device called SNAP-19, which contained plutonium, to the summit.

Operation halted by a storm

During the operation, a sudden snowstorm made the climb impossible.

On the orders of task force leader Captain M.S. Kohli, the team stashed the device in a camp on the slope and was evacuated from the area.

According to the newspaper, the generator has not been recovered since that time. The loss of the device, which contained Plutonium-239 and Plutonium-238 isotopes used in nuclear munitions and as power sources for spacecraft, was never officially acknowledged by the Washington administration.

The operation was launched after the Beijing government conducted its first atomic bomb test at its proving ground in Xinjiang in 1964.

The newspaper reported that at the time, neither the US nor India had sufficient intelligence data to monitor China’s nuclear program, which is why the risky climb was planned.

The veil of secrecy was lifted in 1978

The mission, known as the “Nanda Devi deception,” was kept secret for more than a decade.

The incident was brought to public attention by reporter Howard Kohn in a story published on April 12, 1978, in Outside magazine, then a supplement to Rolling Stone.

After the story gained traction, Democratic Congressmen John Dingell and Richard Ottinger appealed to then-US President Jimmy Carter.

The representatives requested that Carter take all necessary steps to resolve this serious and unpleasant situation.

Indian environmental experts believe the danger posed by the lost device persists.

Experts are concerned that as glaciers melt, the device could contaminate the sources of the Ganges River and cause radioactive pollution in the region.