To clarify, had the same amount of power been generated by a typical coal plant as was generated by the 4 Chernobyl units over their service life, it would have cost more lives, taking into account the one unit that failed terribly. And this was the worst ever nuclear disaster, yet still safer than your everyday coal plant. I think the efforts of environmentalist had been terribly misdirected, due to ignorance, rather than bad intent, of course.