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For clarity, total gamma dose levels are not actually that high, you can find places on earth with significantly higher dose levels that aren't evacuations zones. 2 isotopes, however, are in excess compared to most other places on earth. Specifically Pu239-240.
This is because Chernobyl and Fukushima spread their contamination by lower energetic means, notably a meltdown/fire/conventional explosions. This means it is harder to transport high mass atoms. Low mass atoms, however, still get enough juice kicked into them to be transported.
A bomb, however, is not only mostly plutonium and highly enriched uranium. But it also has a lot more explosive force to transport materials. This means more heavy isotope contamination over a wider area. That is a complicated mess, I know.
The more interesting question is how this higher mass contamination would work its way into biological systems. To that end, it is usually the normally annoying stuff like cesium that poises the greatest risks.
I am not currently aware of biological systems that accumulate trace amounts of plutonium into concentrations that are worrisome. Plants and veggies, however, do concentrate cesium, and many of the areas have levels of cesium that warrant concern.
