Re: Fukushima not a big enough warning ?
"In a recent LA Times article on deactivated San Onofre reactor it was mentioned that the US has 79,000 tons of spent fuel rods with no storage plans."
Keep them in the pools at the plants for 2 centuries (the nuclear waste from a 800-1000MWe reactor over its lifespan is about enough to fill an olympic pool), then they're safe enough to handle (radiation levels are only slightly higher than a new rod at that point).
If Thorium-fuelled molten salt reactors become viable, they can eat the "waste" as supplementary fuel, along with the preprocessing waste (85-95% of mined uranium is tossed out during the enrichment process as "useless" U238 depleted uranium - which is ideal for making h-bomb casings, but works well as supplementary LFTR fuel). A LFTR with continuous inline chemical reprocessing would produce 1% of the waste of uranium reactors, most of which is actually useful material such as helium or other gases that can be onsold after sitting around for 5-20 years to allow remaining fissiles to bake out.
The dangers of radiation exposure are vastly overblown, usually by the same people who think nothing of jumping in a jet and flying off on holiday somewhere (Youtube: the 20 most radioactive places on earth - the final place is a kicker )
Biting the hand that feeds IT
