CIA’s nuclear device buried deep in the Himalayas? Read what the lost plutonium generator was, and can it really cause glacier melts and cloudbursts in the region

On 15th December, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey sparked debate about the lost American nuclear-powered device somewhere near Nanda Devi, one of India’s most formidable Himalayan peaks. In a post on social media platform X, he accused Congress governments of collaborating with the CIA to install nuclear-powered espionage equipment on Nanda Devi in the Himalayas.

भारत के पहले प्रधानमंत्री नेहरु जी ने 1964 में तथा पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री इंदिरा जी ने 1967,1969 में अमेरिका के CIA से मिलकर न्यूक्लियर जासूसी उपकरण चीन के लिए हिमालयन नंदा देवी में स्थापित करवाया ।सभी उपकरण वहीं छोड़कर अमेरिकी भाग गए ।आज गंगा किनारे रहने वाले लोगों को उत्तराखंड से… pic.twitter.com/lGZxIGTQaS

— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) December 15, 2025

He mentioned how, in 1978, then Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai, acknowledged it in the Lok Sabha and stated that The New York Times has recently written a detailed article on it. He also questioned whether the nuclear fuel of the device was responsible for high cancer rates among people living along the banks of the Ganga from Uttarakhand to Bengal.

Since the incident happened, that too during the Cold War, stories of the nuclear-powered device remained limited to whispers. They were buried under layers of secrecy, diplomacy, and snow. In the past few years, climate disasters have intensified in Uttarakhand. The Himalayan region has remained ecologically fragile. During such intense events where human lives are lost, the story of the lost device resurfaces.

Interestingly, the spotlight has returned to the lost device, and international as well as Indian media are covering it. Politicians like Nishikant Dubey have issued statements. Social media is abuzz with discussions around the nuclear-powered device that has been missing for the past five decades and is possibly buried somewhere near Nanda Devi.

At the centre of the renewed debate is the plutonium-fuelled generator that went missing in 1965 during a joint Indo-American covert mission. While scientists insist it cannot cause nuclear explosions or sudden natural disasters, public fear has persisted for long, as the stories around the operation have always been discussed in bits and pieces, as if secrecy is more important than making it part of history. The fact is, the device has never been recovered, and it sends chills every time there is a natural disaster in the region around where the device went missing over 50 years ago.

To understand what the fear is, what the facts are, and what remains unresolved, it is essential to revisit what actually happened, what the Indian government admitted in Parliament, and what science says today.

Why the story has resurfaced in public discourse

The renewed attention to the Nanda Devi incident is not accidental. In recent years, Uttarakhand has witnessed deadly floods, glacier collapses, landslides, and cloudburst-related disasters. The 2021 Rishiganga tragedy, which killed more than 200 people, reopened old anxieties among villagers living in the upper Himalayan regions.

Locals, environmental activists and writers, and some political figures have questioned whether the lost device could have contributed to glacier instability. Even Captain Kohli, at that time, feared that it could have been because of the lost device. The speculations return every time there is a disaster, but the discussions have largely remained whispers rather than loud public debates.

The question is not whether the device can blast like a nuclear bomb. Rather, the question is whether the device that went missing in the Himalayas can still pose environmental or human risks.

What exactly was the device that went missing

First of all, the device was not a nuclear bomb. It was not designed to explode. The device was powered by a SNAP-19C radioisotope thermoelectric generator, commonly known as an RTG. SNAP stands for Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power. These generators produce electricity by converting heat released from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium-238 into electrical energy.

Such devices were widely used by the United States in the 1950s and 1960s to power remote equipment, including space probes, weather stations, and deep-sea sensors. Variants of the same technology still power spacecraft such as Voyager.

The specific SNAP-19C unit carried to Nanda Devi weighed roughly 38 to 50 pounds and contained plutonium-238 sealed in multiple protective layers. Its purpose was to supply continuous power to a high-altitude surveillance and telemetry station.

What the mission was actually meant to do

It was claimed that the objective of the mission was scientific research. However, the real intent behind placing the device in the Himalayan region was different. China’s first nuclear test took place in October 1964. Both India and the United States were concerned about China’s missile development programme. At that time, satellite surveillance was not widely available, and intercepting missile telemetry was difficult.

Reportedly, the CIA proposed installing a remote listening station high in the Himalayas to intercept radio signals and telemetry data from Chinese missile tests conducted in Xinjiang. The extreme altitude was chosen to overcome line-of-sight limitations and atmospheric interference.

The plutonium generator was critical because conventional power sources could not function reliably in such conditions for long durations.

How the device was lost on Nanda Devi

Then came 1965. Mountaineers from India and the United States attempted to install the device near the summit of Nanda Devi. When the climbers were close to completing their ascent, a severe blizzard blocked their way. The conditions were life-threatening. Indian Navy Captain Mohan Singh Kohli was leading the expedition. He ordered the team to abandon the equipment and retreat to a safe location. The generator and the surveillance gear were secured on an icy ledge near Camp Four.

In 1966, the team returned to retrieve the device. However, the entire section of ice and rock had disappeared. It was believed that everything had been swept away in an avalanche. The government initiated intensive searches between 1966 and 1969. Radiation detectors were used, aerial surveys were conducted, and ground expeditions took place. However, the device remained lost.

According to a New York Times report, another device was set up near Nanda Devi in 1967. However, the signal from the device kept breaking up. When Indian climbers went back to identify the problem, they were shocked to find that the “warm” generator had melted through the ice cap and was resting inside what Captain Kohli described as a strange cave that looked like a tomb, several feet under the snow. The device was retrieved and sent back to the United States in 1968.

What Morarji Desai told Parliament

On 17th April 1978, then Prime Minister Morarji Desai formally acknowledged the incident in the Lok Sabha after reports in the American press brought the covert mission into public view. He told Parliament that the operation had begun in the mid 1960s and was approved at the highest political level.

“It started in 1964,” Desai said, explaining that a mountaineering expedition was first undertaken by Indian climbers, followed by a joint Indo American expedition equipped with a nuclear powered device intended to be installed at a height of around 25,000 feet near Nanda Devi.

Desai stated that the expedition was forced to abandon the device due to extreme weather conditions. “When the expedition was approaching the summit, it was overtaken by a blizzard which made further ascent impossible. Facing fatal hazards, they were obliged to retreat,” he said, adding that the power pack had to be “securely cached” during the descent.

He informed the House that a follow up expedition in May 1966 failed to locate the device after a major avalanche in the area. “Every attempt was made by ground and aerial search aided by supersensitive scientific equipment to trace the power pack, but these efforts proved in vain,” Desai said, noting that searches continued until late 1968.

According to Desai, water samples from the region were tested up to 1970 and monitored for years thereafter, with no evidence of radioactive contamination. He also disclosed that in 1967, another nuclear powered device was installed on a neighbouring peak, functioned briefly, and was removed in 1968, with the equipment returned to the United States.

Providing technical details, Desai said the missing device contained two to three pounds of plutonium 238 sealed in multiple encapsulated capsules, designed with safety features to prevent leakage or contamination. He told Parliament that expert assessments indicated even in extreme scenarios, the risk of pollution was negligible.

“To be triply sure,” Desai announced the appointment of a committee of scientists to reassess the situation and continue monitoring. He concluded by assuring the House that there was “no cause for alarm on grounds of health or environmental hazards” and stated that no other device of this kind existed on Indian soil.

What happened next

Later, on 30th April 1978, then Foreign Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that India would recover the device. Similar statements were made in Parliament as well. A high power committee was set up, including scientists Dr Atma Ram, H N Sethna, M G K Menon, Raja Ramanna and Dr Saha, to study and assess the risks posed by the device. A report was submitted in 1979.

Public fear versus official assurances

Despite assurances from the government from time to time, fear among locals has not subsided completely. Furthermore, political leaders have questioned why governments have not been transparent about the device being lost in the Himalayas. Criticism of American cooperation and warnings of long-term environmental consequences have followed every time the incident has been discussed.

From the perspective of locals, the fear is not irrational. The Himalayas feed one of the world’s largest river systems. The idea of plutonium anywhere near the Ganga’s source has provoked alarm many times in the past.

Villagers living near Nanda Devi, many of whom were aware of the incident through oral accounts, have continued to view the lost device as a lurking danger. The fact that it was never recovered has sustained suspicion.

What science says about the actual risks

Scientific consensus, both then and now, does not support claims that the device could trigger glacier melts, cloudbursts, or sudden floods.

Plutonium-238 generates heat, but the amount is limited and insufficient to cause large-scale ice destabilisation. It cannot cause explosions, earthquakes, or weather events.

The primary risk identified by nuclear experts is localised exposure if the protective casing were breached and radioactive material inhaled or ingested directly. This would pose a danger mainly to individuals who came into close contact with the device, not to river systems or downstream populations.

Studies reviewed by Indian authorities in the 1970s concluded that even in the event of capsule failure, dilution from glacial meltwater would keep radiation levels far below hazardous thresholds.

Could it be responsible for recent disasters

There is no scientific evidence that the missing SNAP-19C generator can cause disasters in the Himalayan region. Events including the 2021 Rishiganga flood have been attributed to factors such as glacier collapse driven by climate change, geological instability, and human interventions such as dam construction.

Why the issue still matters

Accountability, transparency, and environmental governance remain at the core of discussions around the Nanda Devi incident. The secrecy and opaqueness of past governments allowed hazardous materials to be deployed in ecologically sensitive regions. Calls for locating or conclusively ruling out the device’s presence are driven as much by psychological closure as by safety concerns.

A Cold War legacy that refuses to disappear

Over 50 years later, the lost plutonium generator remains buried not just in ice, but in unresolved questions. Governments insist there is no danger. Scientists broadly agree. Yet the device has never been found, and silence from authorities continues to fuel speculation.