International inspectors may have a new tool in the form of an antineutrino detector, that could help them peer inside a working nuclear reactor.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Iran that Moscow would not back out of a 1 billion U.S. dollar contract to complete a nuclear power plant in the Iranian port of Bushehr. Putin's remarks followed talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a summit of Caspian Sea nations in Tehran. The United States and other Western nations oppose the construction of the reactor, and believe that it is part of an effort by Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

North Korea has agreed to disable the facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor complex by December 31 under US supervision, according to a six-nation agreement released by China.

French nuclear manufacturer Areva SA and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. announced a joint venture Monday to make third-generation nuclear reactors aimed at markets in Asia, the United States and eastern Europe.

Russia suspended the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty with declaration of non participation this month with a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin. International agreement department,Chief Yevgeny Buzhinsky, said all sides should work on a new or adapted CFE treaty,

Moscow welcomed as "positive" North Korea's claim that it has shut down a nuclear reactor at the heart of international efforts to curb Pyongyang's atomic program, while U.S. officials offered cautiously hopeful appraisals.

North Korea confirmed it has shut its nuclear reactor that provides the secretive state with material to make weapons-grade plutonium, China's news agency quoted a North Korean official as saying on Sunday.

North Korea is considering to shut down its main nuclear reactor as soon as it receives an initial shipment of energy aid.

Russia's upper house of parliament ratified Friday an agreement regulating the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project (ITER), being built in France with Russia's participation, aimed at eventually generating power by nuclear fusion.

North Korea is ready to shut down its nuclear reactor once it receives the first shipment of fuel oil to operate its heat and electric power plants, the Yonhap news agency said Thursday, citing a government source.

The Estonian Maritime Academy has developed a project to construct an underwater nuclear reactor off the Baltic Sea coast, a local newspaper said Wednesday.

The Interfax-China news agency reported that according North Korea planed to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in the second half of July.