Himalayan Time Bomb: The CIA’s Lost Nuclear Device on Nanda Devi Exposed
60 Years Later, 5kg of Plutonium Remains Missing in India’s Sacred Peaks; New Evidence Revives Fears of Radioactive Leaks into the Ganges
The Secret 1965 Mission to Spy on China
One of the most chilling chapters of the Cold War has returned to the spotlight. In 1965, the CIA and India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) executed a covert operation to install a nuclear-powered listening station on Nanda Devi. The goal was to monitor China’s nascent nuclear program. However, as documented in recently surfaced archival files, a ferocious blizzard forced the elite climbing team to abandon the 57kg generator—containing a heart of highly radioactive Plutonium-238—just 2,000 feet from the summit.
When teams returned the following spring, the ledge was bare. The device, which has a radioactive life of over 500 years, had vanished. Despite subsequent top-secret search missions using sensors and infrared technology, the “nuclear needle” remains lost in the Himalayan haystack.
A Growing Threat to the Ganges River Basin
In December 2025, the mystery has taken on a new urgency. Environmentalists and lawmakers are raising alarms that the intensifying melt of Himalayan glaciers due to climate change could finally expose the device or, worse, cause its protective casing to rupture. The Nanda Devi glaciers feed the Rishi Ganga, which eventually flows into the Ganges, the lifeline for over 500 million people.
While scientists state the device cannot “explode” like a nuclear bomb, the plutonium is highly toxic. If the generator’s containment is breached, radioactive particles could contaminate the water supply of North India. “You cannot leave plutonium by a glacier feeding the Ganges,” warned Jim McCarthy, the last surviving climber from the original mission, in a recent interview.
Political Fallout and the Call for a Final Search
The “Nanda Devi Plutonium Mission” remains one of the most contentious intelligence failures in Indo-US history. Following recent revelations, members of the Indian Parliament have urged the government to authorize a modern, high-tech search operation to locate the RTG once and for all.
As global warming accelerates glacial retreat, the risk is no longer just a theoretical “Cold War secret” but a potential ecological disaster. While the official line from Washington and New Delhi remains cautious, the “lost plutonium” of Nanda Devi continues to hang like a ticking radioactive clock over the roof of the world.