So, in effect, even if the number of deaths is in dispute, the policy consequences [of Chernobyl] have happened nevertheless. In that, anti-nuclear advocates have been a lot more effective than road safety ones;

Well, actually, there is a two-proged PR propaganda campaign by suporters of nuclear energy: a combination of "we must replace gas and coal with nuclear for Global Climate's sake" and "even Chernobyl wasn't as bad as we thought". The policy consequences can easily be reversed especially as a new generation of people who were never aware of Chernobyl become politically active (I was 10 when Chernobyl happened and aware of it, but new 18-year-old voters were not even born when it happened).

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman