One thing I like to remember is that there are still 10 RMBK reactors in operation. Fundamentally the same design as the reactor 4 at Chernobyl. In fact, one thing a lot of people don't realise, the 3 other reactors at Chernobyl were restarted and ran until 2000 (actually, reactor 2 shut down earlier because of a non-nuclear accident with its generator) when the EU paid to have them shutdown.

The Chernobyl reactors were all perfectly safe. It was almost impossible for them to suffer a meltdown. That's the problem here: greed and incompetence and pride can't be fixed with better cooling systems. Today's perfect reactor is just as dangerous as the perfect reactor at Chernobyl once someone wants a bonus or needs to improve efficiency or doesn't want to admit he is confused and turn the thing off...

Perfectly safe is a long stretch. As originally installed they had numerous design faults, the control rods operated too slowly, the carbon tips of the control rods could locally increase reactivity when they were being inserted, the reactor was too large and consequently hard to control, they lacked the secondary containment structures which were common place in western reactors of the era.