Please RSVP to: belfer_events@hks.harvard.edu
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs will host a special talk with Olli Heinonen, Belfer Center Senior Fellow, in the Belfer Center Library (L369).
Over the past year the IAEA has conducted half a dozen higher level meetings to resolve the stalemate on the verification of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. Sometimes negotiators have returned believing they had reached agreement, only to find out later they were wrong. The next IAEA meeting is scheduled for mid January. On Wednesday January 9th, Belfer Center Senior Fellow and former Head of International Safeguards at IAEA, Olli Heinonen, will discuss the likely issues and outcomes of the upcoming meetings.
During his time as Deputy Director General of the IAEA, and head of its Department of Safeguards, Olli Heinonen saw first hand the development of Iran’s nuclear program. Since becoming a senior fellow at Belfer Center, Olli has continued his research into the program, meeting with Iranian scientists and officials. His insights into the Iranian nuclear weapons program are unparalleled.
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.
Please join us on January 9th, from 10:00 to 11:30 in the Belfer Center Library (room L369). All conversations at the session are “off the record” and cannot be quoted or repeated outside the session.
RSVP is required!: belfer_events@hks.harvard.edu
