Nearly a million people died from Chernobyl and the full effects of disease has not fully been researched.
I've never considered NatGeo as a paragon of scientific virtue, but
this article guesses about 4000 Chernobyl-related deaths and cautions that 25 years after Hiroshima, some cancers were still appearing.
"
A report last year from the Chernobyl Forum, a group of experts convened by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organization, and other United Nations agencies estimated that among the millions exposed to Chernobyl's radioactive cloud, nearly 4,000 will ultimately die from leukemia and other radiation-induced cancers. It's a measure of the health fears immediately after the accident that this number comes as a relief."
