I don't have a real opinion on this subject, but wanted to point out that 1,000 square miles is not really as big as it sounds: a square 31.6 miles on each side. About the size of Rhode Island's land area.
That depends on where the 1,000 suqare miles is. If it's in the Nevada desert, I might agree (although the fallout from Chernobyl did fall over Europe so the initial impact is well beyond the long-term 1,000 square miles) but that's not where you need to build nuclear power plants [1]:
> To obtain the best value from nuclear power stations, they should be built close to the cities
> To obtain the best value from nuclear power stations, they should be built close to the cities
[1]: https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/magazi...