> The waste products are MUCH nastier than natural uranium.

I know but how far can you afford to dilute them ? Do you have an idea of
the size of scrap rock and earth mountains spread all over the world from
mineral mining ? And after dilution, the waste would go back in the earth.
Someone would *pay* to remove the dirt mountains and fill the mine with
it. Any poor sod wanting to dig it out in 10,000 years would have to build
a new mine, and concentrate the ore to make something dangerous to
himself. And there would be no markers ;-) I am pretty sure the hottest
waste can be ground down and diluted to the point where the dilute would
be no more radioactive than natural uranium ore and you could carry a bag
of it in your trouser pocket for a couple of days (like Pierre Curie did
?). It's a money thing. The highly diluted waste would be unattractive
even for terrorists and moderately wealthy nations with ambitions.

By the way, there is an interview with a man who witnessed the Chernobyl
accident in newscientist.com (he was a nuclear engineer employed there).
Must read. I do not have the url handy.

Peter

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