GBH Openvault
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Haves and Have-Nots; Interview with Raja Ramanna, 1987
Part of War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.
02/14/1987
Dr. Raja Ramanna was a nuclear physicist. He served as Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (19721978 and 19811983), from where he oversaw India's first nuclear test. He also headed the country's Atomic Energy Commission (19841987) and served as the Secretary for Defense Research (19781981). In the interview, he goes into the history and purposes of India's nuclear program. He recalls the Atoms for Peace program as an "epoch-making event" and recounts the importance of key people Nehru, Bhabha and of foreign assistance to the country's nuclear activities, including the Trombay reprocessing facility. On the issue of nonproliferation, he describes India's attitudes, especially toward the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Indians view as mainly a threat to the national sovereignty of states. The interview also touches on the London Suppliers Group, the International Fuel Cycle Evaluation, India's emphasis on plutonium and fast breeders, and Jimmy Carter's nonproliferation policy. Finally, he goes into the differences between the technologies for making a bomb and for generating electric power.
License Clip
- Series
- War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
- Program
- Haves and Have-Nots
- Program Number
108
- Title
Interview with Raja Ramanna, 1987
- Series Description
The first atomic explosion in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, changed the world forever. This series chronicles these changes and the history of a new era. It traces the development of nuclear weapons, the evolution of nuclear strategy, and the politics of a world with the power to destroy itself.
In thirteen one-hour programs that combine historic footage and recent interviews with key American, Soviet, and European participants, the nuclear age unfolds: the origin and evolution of nuclear weapons; the people of the past who have shaped the events of the present; the ideas and issues that political leaders, scientists, and the public at large must confront, and the prospects for the future. Nuclear Age highlights the profound changes in contemporary thinking imposed by the advent of nuclear weapons. Series release date: 1/1989
- Program Description
A case study of the dynamics of nuclear proliferation: China triggers India and India triggers Pakistan in the competition to have their own nuclear weapons.
In 1953 President Eisenhower announced the Atoms for Peace program. This marked a total reversal of American foreign policy. Americans would give material to allow countries to build reactors. “So overnight we passed from nuclear middle age to nuclear renaissance,” recalls French atomic scientist Bertrand Goldschmidt. The Soviet Union started its own program and helped China learn to build a bomb. The first Chinese nuclear blast was in 1964. Indian defense expert K. Subrahmanyam recalls that a nuclear China prompted India to set off a “peaceful” nuclear explosion in 1974. “There is no such thing as a peaceful nuclear explosion,” responds General A. I. Akram of the Armed Forces of Pakistan. “’74 was a watershed. It brought the shadow of the bomb to South Asia, and that shadow is still there.”
- Duration
00:43:02
- Asset Type
Raw video
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Soviet Union
- Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968)
- Great Britain
- International Atomic Energy Agency
- United States. Nuclear Nonproliferation Act of 1978
- World War II
- Nuclear energy
- Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
- India
- Pakistan
- Canada
- China
- Nehru, Jawaharlal, 1889-1964
- Radioactive wastes
- Nuclear fission
- Nuclear nonproliferation
- United States
- Terrorism
- Bhaba, Homi J.
- Nuclear disarmament
- Nuclear weapons
- Physicists
- Locations
- India
- Genres
- Documentary
- Topics
- History
- Science
- War and Conflict
- Global Affairs
- Contributors
- Ramanna, Raja, 1925-2004 (Interviewee)
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Haves and Have-Nots; Interview with Raja Ramanna, 1987,” 02/14/1987, GBH Archives, accessed December 22, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4B6BFC12257C4824A1848B5A22285EED.
- MLA: “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Haves and Have-Nots; Interview with Raja Ramanna, 1987.” 02/14/1987. GBH Archives. Web. December 22, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4B6BFC12257C4824A1848B5A22285EED>.
- APA: War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Haves and Have-Nots; Interview with Raja Ramanna, 1987. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4B6BFC12257C4824A1848B5A22285EED