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The Ukrainian Government reiterated its pledge to shut the site of the world's worst nuclear accident - but it stresses the closure still depends on the country getting international aid.
Western countries have long demanded the closure of the plant.
 Leonid Kuchma: Ukraine will need aid
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Only last month President Kuchma said the plant would not be closed until United States, Ukrainian and other international experts work out an aid deal to help compensate Ukraine.
Money for Ukraine
Cash-poor Ukraine, which gets about 40% of its electricity from Chernobyl and four other nuclear plants, has been seeking funds to help it complete two new nuclear reactors as compensation for Chernobyl's closure.
Environmental groups have urged Ukraine to find alternative sources of energy, and critics have long accused it of using Chernobyl as leverage to get money from the West.
Chernobyl's reactor number four exploded and caught fire during a test in 1986, covering much of Europe with a radioactive cloud.
The Ukrainian government has blamed at least 8,000 deaths on the disaster, including those killed immediately, workers who died in the massive cleanup operation, and people who subsequently died of cancer and other radiation-related illnesses.
Three of Chernobyl's four reactors are now permanently shut down, leaving only one reactor, number three, in operation.
It underwent long repairs last year, but has malfunctioned several times.
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