And the Russians said, well all right, if the Iranians want to possess the whole, what's called the nuclear fuel cycle, that is, to have a guaranteed stream of nuclear fuel for power plants, which involves enriching uranium, we'll do it in conjunction with Iran, but in Russia.

NPR: Iran's Response to International Pressure over Nukes

KEDO, the American-led consortium supposed to master-mind the project, and which also includes South Korea, Japan and the European Union, has to beg and scrape each year to find the cash for the 500, 000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil promised to North Korea to tide it over until electricity from the two new reactors comes on stream.

ECONOMIST: America and North Korea