Iran has removed the core of its Arak heavy water reactor and filled part of it with cement, a crucial step under a soon to be implemented nuclear agreement with world powers.<br />A spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization told state television the work was done on Wednesday, paving the way for UN nuclear inspectors to announce Iran has met its commitments.<br />Asked on Thursday if the core had been removed from the reactor, spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi replied: "Yesterday we finished the central part and the openings have been filled with cement."<br />Such measures mean the reactor will not be able to produce any weapons-grade plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, cutting off a potential pathway to an atomic bomb – an aim Iran has always denied pursuing.
