The level of the explosion of the reactor in Chernobyl doesn't compare to Japan. That reactor exploded and it was done. Smoke and fire from the explosion released deadly levels of fallout in the air. A Level 7 (the worse possible) when it comes to contamination. Japan is lucky in a sense because they already had water in their plant. Even if it's salt water, it's still dense enough to slow down any potentially hazardous contamination. Chernobyl was a little late in executing that idea. Of the three core meltdowns, their highest level of contamination is a 5, and still the radiation isn't severe enough to cause worry as much as Chernobyl did.