I agree, storing it locally is dumb - but we can thank the Democrats for that as they killed the Nevada location. Breeders reuse their waste (hence the term Breeder) but eventually wind up with a lot of Plutonium, which is actually really needed by our government, so as to have a chance of winning WW3, which seems to be the path they put us on.
As to Fukushima, is it luck, or are the controls on all of the other Western nukes actually pretty good? For example, we never hear of nuke issues in France, despite having a ton of reactors. Perhaps we get a bit more careful in how we site our nukes and design their safety systems (and upgrade the nukes that presently vulnerable)?
The world is getting nukes, whether we like it or not. China is building them by the hundreds, Japan is back to building them, as I expect much of the world. As to the US...I actually don’t care either way, but if we don’t build nukes, I sure as hell want to make sure we produce reliable energy in some other ways - and who knows if that will even be allowed?
Fukushima was a man made accident. Take a little time and read about the actual events. I have presented several case studies on Fukushima.
A VERY brief synopsis of why it never should have happened.
1. The Diesels were at sea level, this was known to be a serious design flaw from the beginning but it was never corrected
2. The structures meant to contain the H2 release where identified decades earlier to need vents, mods were repeatedly requested from Engineers and GE but for economic reasons never perused.
3. They actually removed a natural sea wall they should have not and knew better than to. Many do not realize other Nuclear power plants in the area with equivalent walls survived and shut down with now threat to the public
See this link”https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Tepco-Removed-Natural-Seawall-that-Would-Have-Protected-Daiichi-Facility.html“
“Although not as commonly known, due to the fact that nothing happened, the Daiichi nuclear power plant is not the only facility along the Fukushima coastline. In the 1970s the Daini and Onagawa nuclear power plants were also built, however the seawalls were not destroyed here. When the massive earthquake and tsunami struck in March they were both able to achieve cold shutdowns, and no damage was suffered at either site.”
Literally this event was man made and could have been avoided. Engineers saw it coming and were not heeded. All the mods recommended were financially feasible and economically practical. People with 0 understanding of nuclear power need to stop making financial decisions about nuclear reactor design.