Nuclear War

The nuclear waste problem comes from the profligate use of uranium that discards 97% of the usable energy and does not even attempt to use most of the higher actinides--the only moderately long-lived and moderately radioactive materials in spent fuel. Fission products--the atoms that have already been split--are highly radioactive but for a short time, and the uranium itself is so long-lived precisely because it isn't very radioactive. Separate the intermediate- and long-lived fuel from the short-lived waste, let the waste sit for 40-100 years, and use the available energy in the fuel rods--in short, recycling--and you have no waste problem. Modern techniques don't pollute water or air, and modern reactors that would use this recycled fuel are inherently safe.
Even so, don't you think that something that's chemically toxic forever is worse than something that has a finite lifetime?

By the way, we independent advocates, not NEI, present the pro-nuclear perspective. NEI presents the perspective of the utilities--which is not necessarily an untarnished pro-nuclear one. For example, they would rather exacerbate the waste problem by choosing a dump over recycling--as long as it doesn't cost them any money.