Indeed reactors are not free. The irradiated materials situation isn't as bad as fission though since they are low level activation materials that become safe

Indeed reactors are not free. The irradiated materials situation isn't as bad as fission though since they are low level activation materials that become safe within a few hundred years, as opposed to trans-uranics which are radioactive for thousands of years and will always be toxic. Since it is a complicated engineering problem there is space to turn engineering effort into reduced cost.