Man seems to have a longing for risks, like a part of the human nature.
There is also a rational part of risk, in selecting such objects in ordinary life big industry, with a technology poorly understood by the general public, is a favored target. In that category no better choice can be made than the nuclear industry in general, and the nuclear waste in particular. Dose-effect relations are discussed in light of recent scientific debate. The third part of this report describes a number of hazard indexes for nuclear waste found in the literature and distinguishes between absolute and relative risk scales. The absolute risks as well as the relative risks have changed over time due to changes in radiological and metabolical data and by changes in the mode of calculation.