In pictures: Disabling Yongbyon

North Korean nuclear workers stand in front of insulating bricks and sand in the Yongbyon nuclear plant , North Korea (14/02/2008)

Rare images have been released of North Korea's nuclear facility at Yongbyon, which is in the process of being disabled as part of an denuclearisation deal.

Pits from which dissolver tanks for uranium ore concentrate have been removed in Yongbyon nuclear plant, North Korea (14/02/2008)

Pyongyang agreed to shut down the reactor and remove fuel rods in exchange for international aid and diplomatic concessions.

Fuel rod casting vessels and dissolver tanks at Yongbyon (14/02/2008)

US researchers were given rare access to the facility in February, and were shown some of the equipment packaged for removal.

Bags full of by-products at the Yongbyon nuclear plant in North Korea (14/02/2008)

There are also by-products to remove, such as these bags of uranium trioxide.

US researcher Siegfried Hecker examines machining lathes at Yongbyon nuclear plant in North Korea (14/02/2008)

The international community fears North Korea was using the plant as part of a secret weapons programme, something Pyongyang denies.

A researcher videos equipment removed from the Yongbyon nuclear plant in North Korea (14/02/2008)

Observers from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have closely monitored the denuclearisation process, and cameras have been installed to keep watch.

The empty inner structure of a cooling tower at Yongbyon nuclear plant in North Korea (14/02/2008)

US officials say one quarter of the reactor's fuel rods have already been removed, with the rest due to be taken out by August.

The empty inner structure of a cooling tower at Yongbyon nuclear plant in North Korea (14/02/2008)

While progress has definitely been made, the denuclearisation process has been far from smooth.

North Korea workers clean the floor of the main reactor at Yongbyon nuclear plant, North Korea (22/02/2008)

North Korea missed a year-end deadline for submitting full details of its nuclear programme, and has still not given enough information to satisfy the US.

North Korean workers operate equipment at Yongbyon nuclear plant, North Korea (22/02/2008)