Ukraine Asks Help for Chernobyl Region

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2006/apr/24/042401925.html

President Viktor Yushchenko appealed to the international community for financial help Monday, two days before the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, to aid the region surrounding the nuclear plant.

"We need to get rid of the Chernobyl stereotype as an incurable inflammation on the body of Ukraine," Yushchenko said, opening an international conference of radiation and health experts in the Ukrainian capital. "This is land - land we should recover and put back to life. ... A new day should come to the Chernobyl area, a day of its recovery."

That will require money - far more than this cash-strapped former Soviet republic can afford, Yushchenko said, noting that Ukraine had already spent $15 billion on Chernobyl-related projects.

The April 26, 1986, explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor spewed radiation across much of northern Europe over a 10-day period, resulting in the evacuation of more than 100,000 people and the contamination of more than 77,220 square miles of European land.

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