No one who lived near Chernobyl died or contracted cancer as a direct result of their proximity.  Chernobyl was a bad accident, but contrary to popular belief, an American coal plant releases more radioactive material into the air each year than Chernobyl did.  The problem was that Chernobyl was doing it in concentration as well as would have continued doing so so long as the fire continued.  Coal contains large amounts of thorium and uranium naturally, and there is no way to get them out before burning it.  So some portion of those elements do end up in the exhaust.  I've been employed in both types of power plants in the United States, including the oldest coal fired power plant still licensed in the United States, Beckjord Power Plant, and I can honestly say that I would much rather live near a nuke plant than a coal plant.  Yes, there is a small chance that said nuke plant could be mismanaged and have an incident that harms my children; but that's a certainty if you live downwind from a coal plant.  Go tour a coal plant, nothing green grows within a quarter mile of the stack.  Nothing.

EDIT:  BTW, Chernobyl continued to produce power for another 15 years or so before being mothballed.  Only the affected reactor was closed immediately.  There is no evidence that employees that worked at Chernobyl after the incident were exposed to any more radiation than their peers at any other nuke plants.