After 50 years most nuclear waste is barely above background. I wouldn't want it in my yard because it's poisonous, not because it is excessively radioactive.

After 50 years most nuclear waste is barely above background. I wouldn't want it in my yard because it's poisonous, not because it is excessively radioactive. Another way to think about this, uranium ore is in the water supply right now in some parts of the world. It's just about as radioactive as 100 year old waste and yet somehow people are managing to survive. According to the Wiki that Asse II mine has not released radioactivity into the environment? It was maybe not the best choice given that the mine had been prone to flooding even when it was operational, but it's a manageable problem. Dropping nuclear is exactly about using the other bad technologies. Renewables are slowly coming online to help, but for the most part you shut down a nuclear plant you open 4 natural gas plants in its place. Unless you are China, then it's 4 coal plants.