1/ UF6 is not a necessary byproduct (only if you go through gaseous diffusion or centrifugal separation). Laser-based enrichment methods are, while not industry ready yet, very efficient. If we had more research and weren't forced to sleep on it for years, we could have made more progress.
2. We do. It's called breeder reactors (The Phenix and Superphenix projects in France for example, were used for research, produced energy, and were closed because of political maneuvres). As for the rest... Burying is legitimately the best option. 150 years of nuclear waste (planning for future use) can easily be buried in underground complexes, with the ability to pull things out should research advance.
3. Modern reactors designs need active energy input to keep the reaction going. Said input it decoupled from the reactor itself, preventing things from going wild. Your only example is Chernobyl 40 years ago, as the USSR were swaying their dicks around and trying to show who has the biggest. And before anything, no, Fukushima is not a disaster. Yes, people were evacuated (as a matter of safety), but as it stands, you get more radiation taking a flight than being next to it.
4. Cool, that's why countries don't give that up to governments. Taking France as example, the ASN is a fully independent entity. They have the ability to unilaterally shut down reactors at the most minimal event, and every single event is listed for everyone to see. They are the very reason our EPR is taking a super long time to build, because of the insane security requirements.
4/ This is either justified, or not. If it is, as we probably both think it is(?), this adds complexity (delays and costs), calling for margins (delays, costs), even w/o knowing the requirements in advance. Every EPR project (in France, Finland or China) largely blowed-up both its schedule and budget.
2. We do. It's called breeder reactors (The Phenix and Superphenix projects in France for example, were used for research, produced energy, and were closed because of political maneuvres). As for the rest... Burying is legitimately the best option. 150 years of nuclear waste (planning for future use) can easily be buried in underground complexes, with the ability to pull things out should research advance.
3. Modern reactors designs need active energy input to keep the reaction going. Said input it decoupled from the reactor itself, preventing things from going wild. Your only example is Chernobyl 40 years ago, as the USSR were swaying their dicks around and trying to show who has the biggest. And before anything, no, Fukushima is not a disaster. Yes, people were evacuated (as a matter of safety), but as it stands, you get more radiation taking a flight than being next to it.
4. Cool, that's why countries don't give that up to governments. Taking France as example, the ASN is a fully independent entity. They have the ability to unilaterally shut down reactors at the most minimal event, and every single event is listed for everyone to see. They are the very reason our EPR is taking a super long time to build, because of the insane security requirements.