The victims of the disaster have had to fight recent pension cuts

The plant in north-west Ukraine was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster and remains arguably the most vivid symbol of the legacy left after the Soviet Union collapsed almost nine years ago.

In April 1986, a combination of careless work practices and the poor design of the reactor's safety systems led to an explosion in reactor number four.

The reactor was torn apart, and a cloud of deadly radiation was sent across Europe.

Nature mutated

No-one knows how many people have died as a result of the blast, but conservative estimates put the figure at 15,000.

It could be twice as many.

The area around the power station has witnessed gross freaks of nature in flora and fauna.

It will be unfit for human habitation for generations to come.

Western aid

Since the break-up of the USSR, Ukraine has maintained that it wants to shut Chernobyl down, but that it needed Western financial help to produce alternative sources of electricity.

The West - principally the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Group of Seven leading industrialised countries - has said that it will help Ukraine build two nuclear reactors at different sites, as well as providing money for Chernobyl's closure.

But there is disagreement on how much all of this will cost.

Ukrainian estimates put the sum at up to $5bn.

Even with Western aid, some parliamentarians say that Ukraine cannot afford this and have hinted at postponing the closure.