[databoss]

Just imagine a small truck or car bomb laced with nuclear waste and you have the essence of the weapon. It could affect the immediate area surrounding the blast and then be carried by air currents (West to East normally) and effect many things/peolpe in it's path. Depending on where it is placed, and how much waste is in the weapon, and how effectively it is packed around the charge, are all contributing factors to the effectiveness of such a device.

[Robert357]

Then you allow the shortest half-life stuff to decay, you go in and decontaminate a lot of stuff and then you pave-over or burry with a layer of soil the rest for a while until it decays. Or you dig up the surface dirt and truck it off to a low level radioactive waste dump. We are only talking about a few hundred pounds of nuclear waste. Even if it is high level it will either be dilluted to the point it isn't a hazard, or it will be concentrated enough so that it can be dealt with.