Professor M. V. Ramana, a physicist by training, is Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security and the director of the graduate program at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He previously worked at the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, both at Princeton University. He is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Material, The International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group, and the team that produces the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report. His earlier books are The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India, and Bombing Bombay? Effects of Nuclear Weapons and a Case Study of a Hypothetical Explosion.

Increasingly alarmed by more and more reports of well respected climate scientists, such as James Hansen, who promote nuclear energy as an important part of responding to rapidly increasing climate catastrophes, we spoke with Professor Ramana via Skype on November 4, 2024 about his latest book, NUCLEAR IS NOT THE SOLUTION: THE FOLLY OF ATOMIC POWER IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE, published by Verso.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

Meta signs deal with nuclear plant to power AI and datacenters for 20 years https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/03/meta-nuclear-power-ai

Dangerous Hype: Big Tech’s Nuclear Lies https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/11/01/big-techs-nuclear-lies/

Biden Tees Up 2 More Major Nuclear Power Wins for Trump https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-nuclear-pledge-climate-summit_n_67352fc1e4b0958bad3e15f4

The Cost of a Nuclear Arsenal https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/02/opinion/nuclear-arsenal.html

The Price https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/10/opinion/nuclear-weapons-us-price.html

Three Mile Island, Notorious in Nuclear Power’s Past, May Herald Its Future https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/business/energy-environment/three-mile-island-nuclear-energy.html

Big Fire Breaks Out at Nuclear Submarine Plant in Britain https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/world/europe/fire-nuclear-submarine-uk.html

Why even environmentalists are supporting nuclear power today https://www.npr.org/2022/08/30/1119904819/nuclear-power-environmentalists-california-germany-japan

Robot retrieves radioactive fuel sample from Fukushima nuclear reactor site https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/02/robot-retrieves-radioactive-fuel-sample-from-fukushima-nuclear-reactor

Japanese nuclear reactor which survived earthquake that badly damaged Fukushima power plant restarts https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/japanese-nuclear-reactor-which-survived-19870742.php

Donald Trump can’t stop global climate action. If we stick together, it’s the US that will lose out https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/07/donald-trump-cant-stop-global-climate-action-if-we-stick-together-its-the-us-that-will-lose-out

Trump voters want a revolution. It’s time for progressives to offer their own https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/07/trump-voters-revolution-politics-right

Our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we do https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/07/us-progressive-election-trump-maga

Tsunehisa Katsumata, Top Executive in Power Plant Meltdown, Dies at 84 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/01/business/tsunehisa-katsumata-dead.html

Richard A. Fineberg, Relentless Skeptic of Alaska Pipeline, Dies at 83 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/01/climate/richard-a-fineberg-dead.html

Yael Bridge THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD & Lois Lipman FIRST WE BOMBED NEW MEXICO https://forthright.media/2024/05/24/yael-bridge-the-big-scary-s-word-lois-lipman-first-we-bombed-new-mexico/