Per US NRC definitions, High-level radioactive waste or HLW means: (1) Irradiated reactor fuel, (2) liquid wastes resulting from the operation of the first cyc

Per US NRC definitions, High-level radioactive waste or HLW means: (1) Irradiated reactor fuel, (2) liquid wastes resulting from the operation of the first cycle solvent extraction system, or equivalent, and the concentrated wastes from subsequent extraction cycles, or equivalent, in a facility for reprocessing irradiated reactor fuel, and (3) solids into which such liquid wastes have been converted. https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part060/part060-0002.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part060/p... Given that all American irradiated reactor fuel is still young enough to retain substantial portions of its original strontium 90 (and other medium-lived fission product) content, it doesn't seem like an overly broad definition to me. Maybe in practice things like slightly radioactive steel ends up lumped in with spent fuel? If so, yes, that's bad. I agree that we don't need to bury spent nuclear fuel in permanent geological repositories. Don't try to chemically reprocess the waste, bury it beyond observation, or otherwise convert a simple, compact, inexpensive problem into a more diffuse, complicated, expensive one. Monitored/guarded sheds is fine.