waste from all 100+ operating nuclear reactors for the lifetime of those plants would fit on a football field 15 feet high. I stand within 2 feet of spent nuclear fuel daily with no, or extremely low, radiation dose. There are quite a few proven technologies for next generation reactors that again have been politically hampered. While there is nothing wrong with letting waste sit and decay on it's own, it is a huge waste of valuable material that could be used if the US got back on board with reprocessing and/or fast reactors.