Is there anyway that the radiation can get out accidentally under extreme circumstances? What if there is a terrorist attack on a reactor? Plus even if there are no accidents or attacks, what do we do with the spent waste that sits around for the next several thousand years years. Even if we bury it, it could work its way into the water supply, or gradually back to the surface.
"Is there anyway that the radiation can get out accidentally under extreme circumstances? What if there is a terrorist attack on a reactor? Plus even if there are no accidents or attacks, what do we do with the spent waste that sits around for the next several thousand years years. Even if we bury it, it could work its way into the water supply, or gradually back to the surface."
"ANY way"? Why such an impossible standard for nuclear power? Is there ANY way your local chemical plant could disperse deadly chemicals into the atmosphere? Is there ANY way jumbo jets flying overhead could crash into a neighborhood? Is there ANY way various chemical and human waste from numerous industries could escape into the environment and end up in your drinking water? Is there ANY way the US nuclear arsenal could be hijacked by enemies or in some way accidentally used against the US?
There is much mystical thinking about anything with the word "nuclear" in it. Radioactivity, like many other useful things in our world, can pose health risks and so must be dealt with responsibly. Fortunately, radiation is a simple and well-understood physical process, so we know well how to handle it.
To answer your question, there are ways to diminish the radioactivity of waste from existing power plants, but ultimately it is an issue of safe storage. The US has a long safety record for storing waste on site. As plants are decomishined, it is thought the waste should be moved to some location where we and future millenia can essentially forget about it. The best answer currently seems to be vitrification to make it chemically inert, and then store it deep in a mountain (like from where the uranium came in the first place).
But, will there by ANY way radiation associated with the nuclear power industry could conceivably harm someone? Yes. But already far more people have died in Middle East wars and terrorist attacks sponsored ultimately by oil money. More people have died in the mining of coal and building of dams. More people have died in natural gas and gasoline exposions & fires. Care to compare the number of nuclear power-related US deaths to deaths from people crushed by tipping vending machines?
Nuclear power, when done even buy 1960's US standards, is EXCEEDINGLY safe.