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Russia also said it would shut down its last plutonium-producing reactor.
ECONOMIST: Disarmament and counter-proliferation
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North Korea was no doubt keen to keep promised oil flowing over the winter, but work to disable its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon another of Mr Kim's six-party obligations has now slowed too.
ECONOMIST: Time for North Korea to come clean about its nuclear past
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But Iran has taken steps towards producing its own reactor fuel.
ECONOMIST: America comes between old allies
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It could also be possible to provide similarly enriched fuel, perhaps from France, for the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) and LEU targets for producing medical isotopes in the reactor.
ECONOMIST: Iran and nuclear weapons
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It also expelled the weapons inspectors who were monitoring its plutonium-laden spent fuel rods and a reactor capable of producing more that can be reprocessed into fissile material for nuclear bombs.
ECONOMIST: South Korea
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The existing reactor, which started producing electricity in 1971, will close by 2014.
BBC: Wales politics
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Under this approach, you build a reactor in plain sight, start producing plutonium, and wait for the U.S. to offer a deal.
FORBES: Dear Ali Khamenei, Here's How To Get Nukes
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That reactor type is not ideal for producing weapons-grade plutonium, but all reactors produce plutonium that could be used in a nuclear explosion.
BBC: Yongbyon restart: North Korea ramps up nuclear tension
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The light-water reactor, which is not capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium, was promised to North Korea in the early 1990s for the North giving up its nuclear weapons.
CNN: North Korea claims to have weaponized plutonium
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Iran, by comparison, is producing near-weapons-grade uranium, but it also has a heavy-water reactor being developed that could produce weapons-usable plutonium.
WSJ: U.S. Opposes Japan's Nuclear Plan
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This outfit is part of the scheme hatched by America, South Korea and Japan five years ago to wean North Korea off producing plutonium, with which nuclear weapons can be made, by offering to replace its plutonium-rich nuclear reactor with a pair of less proliferation-prone western-designed light-water reactors.
ECONOMIST: Japan and North Korea