Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko urged donors on Monday to help tackle the enduring aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, especially the completion of a new cover for the plant's devastated reactor.
Addressing a conference opening several days of events to mark the 20th anniversary of the world's worst civil nuclear accident, Yushchenko called for an international conference to come up with funds that no single country could raise.
The explosion and fire at the Chernobyl power station on April 26, 1986 sent radiation across Europe and contaminated large swathes of territory in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Feverish efforts culminated in the construction of a building to enclose the shattered fourth reactor, but officials have long said a new "sarcophagus" is needed to replace the leaking structure.
"I am calling for the convening of a new conference of donors in Ukraine on Chernobyl's problems to set out a new stage of co-operation," Yushchenko told gathered dignitaries.
"I am asking the European Union, United Nations and UNESCO to back this idea and jointly organise it. It is clear that the resources needed to overcome the consequences of a catastrophe of this magnitude are far beyond the means of a single country. They require joint efforts by the international community."
Building a new shelter, he said, was among the priorities - with a price tag estimated at $800 million to $1.4 billion. The effects of Chernobyl swallowed up to 10 percent of Ukraine's national budget for many years after the catastrophe, he said.
"Need I remind you of the threat posed by this structure? We need to expend all our efforts to turn the Chernobyl station into an ecologically safe site," Yushchenko said.
"It must be clearly understood that putting off effective measures on this any longer could come at a very high price for our entire continent." Yushchenko will join other officials this week at events honouring the dead and those who fought the conflagration.
A candlelit procession will pass through the new town of Slavutych - where all Chernobyl personnel were moved - at 1.24 am (2124 GMT Tuesday), the time of the accident. Estimates of the number of deaths linked to the accident vary widely. The World Health Organisation puts the number at 9,000, while the environmental group Greenpeace predicts an eventual death toll of 93,000.
Some 200,000 residents were evacuated from Ukraine alone. Experts are still studying the long-term effects on health, particularly the incidence of thyroid cancer.
Leading Western nations last year pledged an additional $200 million towards construction, bringing to about $800 million the total raised since the project was launched in the mid-1990s.
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