When I toured the Hanford nuclear site I got the impression that the nuclear waste is much harder to handle in the short term (much higher reactivity, much of i

When I toured the Hanford nuclear site I got the impression that the nuclear waste is much harder to handle in the short term (much higher reactivity, much of it is in a liquid state, much of it contains very reactive solvents used in the purification process) but as you say it will be inert in a much shorter time frame. They were talking about encasing this waste in a silica/glass blob for easier handling.