Ramamurti Rajaraman

Rajaraman is emeritus professor of physics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, co-chair of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, vice president of the Indian National Science Academy, and a member of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board. He has taught and conducted research in physics at the Indian Institute of Science, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and as a visiting professor at Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and elsewhere. He received his doctorate in theoretical physics in 1963 from Cornell University. In addition to his physics publications, he has written widely on topics including fissile material production in India and Pakistan and the radiological effects of nuclear weapon accidents.

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Articles by Ramamurti Rajaraman

Analysis
14 January 2013
Climate ChangeNuclear EnergyNuclear Weapons

An open letter to President Obama: The time on the Doomsday Clock is five minutes to midnight

Robert SocolowThomas RosenbaumLynn EdenRod EwingAlexander GlaserSivan KarthaEdward "Rocky" Kolb Leon LedermanRamamurti RajaramanRobert RosnerJennifer SimsRichard C. J. SomervilleElizabeth J. Wilson

Editor's note: Founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists subsequently created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero), to convey threats to humanity and the planet.

Development and Disarmament Roundtable
8 November 2012

Convergence and nuance

Ramamurti Rajaraman

The aim of organizing a Roundtable discussion such as this is primarily to elicit a spectrum of views and arguments on a particular topic. Whether the discussion has an "outcome" -- whether it converges into a consensus -- is not so important.

Development and Disarmament Roundtable
18 October 2012

Assurances, but no sense of assurance

Ramamurti Rajaraman

The participants in this Roundtable have identified a number of concerns about the way that fuel banks for low-enriched uranium (LEU) will work in practice.

Development and Disarmament Roundtable
30 August 2012

Despite qualms, fuel banks hold promise

Ramamurti Rajaraman

The idea of establishing a fuel bank for low-enriched uranium (LEU) was conceived as long ago as President Dwight Ei

Development and Disarmament Roundtable
28 August 2012

Is a nuclear fuel bank a good investment?

Ta Minh TuanKhaled ToukanRamamurti Rajaraman

Among the fundamental challenges facing the nonproliferation project is that highly enriched uranium suitable for nuclear weapons can be produced in the same facilities that make low-enriched uranium for civilian reactors.

Opinion
30 March 2011
Nuclear Energy

Fukushima: An industrial disaster but not a nuclear 'apocalypse'

Ramamurti Rajaraman

The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is not a cause for panic but rather an opportunity to improve safety worldwide.

Opinion
30 March 2011
Nuclear Energy

Fukushima: An industrial disaster but not a nuclear 'apocalypse'

Ramamurti Rajaraman

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that shook northern Japan on March 11, combined with the giant tsunami that followed, is one of the worst natural disasters that any country has had to bear in recent times. As of today, Japan's National Police Agency reports 27,652 people dead or missing. The gravity of the disaster has been matched only by the stoic and disciplined response of the Japanese public to this massive tragedy.

1 March 2010
Feature

India's Nuclear Arms Control Quandary

Ramamurti Rajaraman
While the international community seems ready to move forward on the CTBT, FMCT, and achieving nuclear zero, New Delhi's participation likely will be limited until its leaders believe that they possess a nuclear arsenal capable of