[daven11]

Yes I've often maintained that we could just drill a hole in the middle of Australia and dump the worlds nuclear waste in it. Its the perfect spot, no ground water (if you make sure its west of the great artesian basin), geologically and politically stable, no one lives there for miles, and there's already a shit ton of radiation there anyway - thats where the Uranium comes from.

One problem would be transporting it, but again, solvable problems, we tanker oil around the world, so it can be done. The trouble is though political. No one wants all that nuclear waste in their back yard, even if no one ever uses the backyard.

Fukishima added to the problem - if the Japanese, whose engineering skill is the best in the world, have problems then what about the rest of the world? I see this as a very valid objection.

One of the problems I see in the popular mind is the idea that radiation is somehow unique and only occurs in nuclear reactors, and any of it appears somewhere then we're all dead. The coal industry makes sure no one finds out that the amount of radiation expelled by coal powered stations exceeds that produced by nuclear reactors https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-...

As you say the amount to be stored is pretty small, and could probably be dumped down a hole in an afternoon and home in time for tea

An anecdote - I went to a radiology clinic a while ago for a tour (writing some software) and we stopped by the room where they store the radioactive material, pretty low level stuff and all stored away. The manager taking me around said "This is where we store the radiocative stuff" looking at me and waiting for a reaction - a bit of fun I imagine he has - expecting me to run away and panic, but I have a physics degree so no drama - he was disappointed, and we laughed. But this is the public mind - radiation is scary stuff that causes mutations and kills you, so there's a real marketing problem. No doubt this has been pumped up by the oil and coal industry over the years.