Keep this in mind as we look to Japan. A reactor with a better design by GE, a better safety system all around, and "total failure mode" for these plant (a full meltdown and core rupture) would not be as bad as Chernobyl in terms of hard gamma radiation exposure to the environment and Iodine 131 and Cesium contamination.
I wouldn't be so sure considering that the main fuel for the Chernobyl reactor RBMK design used Uranium instead of the reactor at Fukushima nuclear plant No3 used a mixed oxide fuel (MOX) of Uranium and Plutonium (the most toxic substance known to man).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOX_fuelPlutonium 239 has a half life of 24,200 years compared to Iodine 131 half life of around 8 days and Cs 137 half life of 37 years and Strontium-90 with a half life of 28.8 years.
The area around the Chernobyl plant would become uninhabitable for hundreds of years compared to a MOX release of tens of thousands of years.
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