So they are left in enormous heaps on the ground, constantly exuding radioactive gas and blowing on the wind. Uncle Sam hasn't a clue what to do with these, except leave them for our grandchildren, or their grandchildren, to deal with. Back to low-level waste. Mixed together, these two kinds of waste make up LLW, and they are dangerous and long-lived. Even states like New York that are talking about putting LLW into concrete bunkers are talking about burying the bunkers so they will be out of sight and out of mind.
Humans have no experience making any container that can last that long.
The human species itself, in its present form, is less than 100,000 years old. Even though the public is paying for it, the public isn't buying it. And that is the key failure of the nation's radioactive waste programs. The public knows that these burial solutions can't work, but the door has been closed to fresh ideas. The public's concern doesn't stem from vague, unsubstantiated fears about radioactivity, as some industry spokespeople would have us believe.