“The rest of the world simply reprocesses nuclear materials “
As I recall our gigantic breeder reactor was stopped because it might kill some tiny fish. (Snail darter?) Of course, that was just an excuse. The suit winners bragged that if the smelt or darter or whatever approach failed they had a half dozen other “endangered” species to sue for.
The problem with all of our Congressionally approved large projects is that Congress makes them HUGE! They do that not because the project requires size to succeed; they do that because the bigger it is the more money they can send to supporters.
Take the average nuclear reactor. To get approval it requires gigantic size. Now shift gears, pull up your view to the upper atmosphere. The Earth is spread blue an azure below you. Now drift over to the Pacific where a storm has destroyed some Island’s power supply. The Navy rushes over a nuclear submarine or ship, connects a few cables and powers the Island. Now, drift into that sub or carrier and examine the nuclear reactor. It and all the support structure are relatively tiny when compared to the Congressionally approved land version. Why? Money. Graft. Payola.
The reactor on a sub runs on pure U-235. That’s both much more expensive and much more dangerous than unenriched or mildly enriched uranium a civilian nuclear plant burns.