Chernobyl donors conference falls short

[April 19, 2011]  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- An international donors conference seeking euro740 million ($1 billion) to clean up the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site has fallen well short of its goal.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said that pledges from donor nations and organizations announced at the conference Tuesday totaled about euro550 million ($785 million), along with euro29 million ($41 million) from the Ukrainian government.

The money is sought to complete construction of a gargantuan long-term shelter to cover the reactor that exploded April 26, 1986, and to build a facility to store waste from the plant's three other decommissioned reactors.

Several countries that had been major donors to the project in previous years did not announce pledges Tuesday, citing their own economic difficulties or impending national elections.

[Associated Press]

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