Mailing address
Littauer P-20
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Mailbox 53.
Cambridge, MA, 02138
Olli Heinonen
Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Contact:
Telephone: 617-495-5663
Fax: 617-495-8963
Email: olli_heinonen@hks.harvard.edu
Experience
Before joining the Belfer Center as a senior fellow in August 2010, Olli Heinonen spent 27 years at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Heinonen spent the last five years as Deputy Director General of the IAEA, and head of its Department of Safeguards. He led the Agency's efforts to identify and dismantle nuclear proliferation networks, including the one led by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan, and he oversaw its efforts to monitor and contain Iran's nuclear program. Heinonen led teams of international investigators to examine nuclear programs of concern around the world. He inspected nuclear facilities in South Africa, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere, seeking to ensure that nuclear materials were not diverted for military purposes. He is considered one of the world's leading experts on Iran's nuclear program. He led the Agency's efforts in recent years to implement an analytical culture to guide and complement traditional verification activities.
A native of Finland, Heinonen studied radiochemistry and completed his Ph.D dissertation in nuclear material analysis at the University of Helsinki. Before joining the IAEA in 1983, he was a Senior Research Officer at the Technical Research Centre of Finland Reactor Laboratory, in charge of research and development related to nuclear waste solidification and disposal. He is co-author of several patents on radioactive waste solidification. At the IAEA, from 1999 to 2002, he was Director of Operations A and from 2002-2005, he was the Director of Operations B in the Department of Safeguards.
May 9, 2012
"Opening the Door to a Solution with Iran"
Op-Ed
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and David Albright
The recent nuclear talks with Iran in Istanbul represent a significant gain for the United States. These talks have established a step-by-step, or action-for-action, process to prevent Iran increasing its nuclear weapons capabilities and create confidence that Iran is not on a quest for nuclear weapons. However, success is by no means assured.
AP Images
April 26, 2012
"The North Korean Nuclear Program in Transition"
Op-Ed, 38 North.org
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The recent moratorium on missile and nuclear tests and uranium enrichment agreed between the US and the DPRK on February 29, 2012 failed its first test when North Korea launched, albeit unsuccessfully, a satellite on April 13. This article provides a snapshot of North Korea’s enrichment program and the various steps that the DPRK could take vis-à-vis its nuclear program, should it seek yet another occasion to ratchet up pressure on its interlocutors.
April 12, 2012
"The Challenge of Containing Iran's Enrichment Activities"
Op-Ed, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Simon Henderson
Olli Heinonen and Simon Henderson argue that in the absence of very tight monitoring, "and in light of Iran's increasing mastery over limited centrifuge technology, permitting the country to continue enriching uranium at any level would still give it the option of developing nuclear weapons."
March 22, 2012
"The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime Challenged"
Presentation
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Presentation by Olli Heinonen at the Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference, March 20, 2012, in Busan, South Korea, in advance of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul on March 26-27, 2012.
March 6, 2012
"North Korean Nuclear Program in Transition"
Presentation
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
A slide presentation by Belfer Center Senior Fellow Olli Heinonen on March 6, 2012, assessing North Korea's nuclear program. Heinonen made the presentation to a seminar of the Project on Managing the Atom at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School.
AP Images
January 12, 2012
"The 20 Percent Solution"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
On Monday, Jan. 9, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran had begun producing 20 percent enriched uranium at Fordow, a fuel enrichment plant buried deep underground near the holy city of Qom. On the surface, there is little new here: Since February 2010, Iran has been producing 20 percent enriched uranium at Natanz, another once-secret site located about 3 ½ hours from Tehran.
17 November 2011
"Building on the Opportunity of the IAEA Report on Iran"
Op-Ed
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
AP Photo
September 16, 2011
"Preventing the Next Fukushima"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Science, volume 333
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project and Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"If nuclear power is to grow on the scale required to be a significant part of the solution to global climate disruption or scarcity of fossil fuels, major steps are needed to rebuild confidence that nuclear facilities will be safe from accidents and secure against attacks."
July 1, 2011
"A Multinational Fuel Consortium: Obstacles, Options, and Ways Forward"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, issue July 2011
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The World Nuclear Association estimates that by 2030, 600 nuclear reactors will be in operation around the world; 60 countries are considering nuclear power, out of which 10 to 25 are expected to bring nuclear power plants on line by 2030. This could lead, writes Olli Heinonen, to the construction of additional uranium enrichment plants, which, with adjustments, can produce material for nuclear weapons.
[A full version of this article is available at http://bos.sagepub.com/content/current]
(AP Photo)
June 23, 2011
"US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs: Iran and Syria: Next Steps"
Testimony
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Olli Heinonen presents testimony that will focus on the nuclear dossiers of Iran and Syria to provide a snapshot of where the nuclear programs of Iran and Syria currently stand and highlight some key implications.
