Licensed nuclear power plants, designed to established standards and operated by qualified personnel, have amassed a safety record unmatched by any alternative energy source. The accident at Chernobyl was indeed serious. All new designs must meet stringent safety standards, and international efforts are proving successful in instilling a safety culture and management controls to all operating plants. It does produce radioactive wastes. These are sufficiently concentrated that it is worth the effort and cost to confine them and dispose of them in permanent repositories, and thereby keep them out of the environment forever.
Wastes already exist from more than thirty years of commercial nuclear electricity production.
The technology for safe disposal is well understood, and is being pursued in a number of nations. High-level wastes are concentrated, carefully handled, and are being stored safely. The major nuclear nations have plans for permanent disposal facilities. It is the obligation of the current generation to dispose of them safely and permanently. The proper test for any repository is safety, and not its location relative to state or national borders.