Officials in Ukraine have admitted that the concrete tomb surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, which blew up in 1986, is crumbling.

And they warn there is no money for repairs.

But Artur Korneyev, deputy director of operations at Chernobyl, denied the concrete sarcophagus covering the power plant's fourth reactor was on the verge of collapse.

Speaking from the plant, 70 miles (120 kilometres) north of the Ukranian capital Kiev, he said on Thursday: "The foundations get worse and worse each year. But there's no serious deterioration."

Disastrous consequences

The reactor exploded in April 1986, spreading a radioactive cloud with disastrous environmental and human consequences.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus had to be resettled away from farmland contaminated around the plant.

The disaster, which led to untold numbers of deaths through radiation poisoning, was a major embarrassment to the Soviet Union. Ukraine has inherited a most unwelcome legacy.

One Ukrainian news reports said this week the roof of Chernobyl's fourth reactor was close to collapse.

But Mr Korneyev said: "It is not the roof but the foundations which are worsening. They are already 11 years old and we have no money to repair them."

Last month the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said repair work on the fourth reactor could start in April.

Donor nations have added a further £102m ($167m) on top of £207m ($337m) originally promised by the Group of Seven rich industrial countries.

Repairs will take a decade

Ukraine says it needs £467m ($760m) for the job, expected to take a decade.

Mr Korneyev said some experts estimated the leaking sarcophagus contained about 34 tonnes of radioactive dust but he said there were no exact figures.

He said about 4,000 cubic metres (5,200 cubic yards) of radioactive waste had been removed from the tomb in 1997.

The effects of the Chernobyl meltdown have been catastrophic both in the short- and the long-term.

Radiation sickness

Professor Vladimir Bebeshko, Director of the Institute of Clinical Radiology in Ukraine, says 38 people have died from acute radiation syndrome - mostly workers at the plant and servicemen who volunteered to fly over the reactor dropping sand and cement.

Another 15,000 people were unable to work because of radiation sickness and 12,000 children who received large doses to the thyroid gland continue to suffer illness. Many have developed thyroid cancer.

A further 9,000 children were "irradiated" in the womb and have suffered symptoms such as stomach ulcers, bronchitis and brain damage.

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