* The cloud of radioactive strontium, caesium and plutonium affected mainly Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus, as well as parts of Russia and Europe.
* UN agencies have said some 4,000 people will die in total because of radiation exposure.
* The Greenpeace puts the death toll far higher than official estimates, with up to 93,000 extra cancer deaths worldwide.
* The Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, estimates the present death toll from the disaster at almost 734,000.
* Chernobyl engineers shut down the last functioning reactor, Number Three, in December 2000. Radioactive nuclear fuel is still being removed from the plant.
* The 'Sarcophagus' was built in six months after the explosion. It covers the stricken reactor to protect the environment from radiation for at least 30 years.
* Ukraine is seeking a further 600 million euros ($840 million) to help finance the new convex structure which will slip over the ageing 'Sarcophagus' and allow the old reactor to be dismantled.
* Officials say it could be up to 100 years before the station is completely decommissioned.
* Wildlife has made a comeback in this area and there are said to be more than 60 different types of mammals living there including wild boar and elk.
* The first reports about long-term radiation damage have been published, and the results are there is a tendency to attribute increases in the rates of all cancers over time to the Chernobyl accident.
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| 3D diagrams explaining the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and planned 20,000 tonne steel case to cover its aged and crumbling Sarcophagus |
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