Several months ago I did a job in Theddlethorpe on the Lincolnshire North Sea coast, there were banners on the roadsides protesting about the proposal to bury nuclear waste there.

www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/.../lincolnshire-nuclear-waste-dump-edges-7275892

Now, have a look on a map of the UK and see where Theddlethorpe is, where this proposed coal mine is and where the nuclear waste is being processed.

It seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me.

The key thing is the big hole where natural gas was trapped since the time of the dinosaurs, is known to be a stable and leak proof (and so safe) place to bury the waste which as well as being radioactive probably includes so very toxic chemicals. You do not need to have that much material between you and high level waste to make it safe from a radiation perspective - a few tens of metres of water depth will do, but what you do need is geological stability and no chance at all of ground water contamination.
A salt cavern that was a gas store is ideal

The cost of transporting the stuff across the country, even with all the bells and whistles that the modern nuclear regs require, is small compared with the rest of the operation.

I still think there are potentially  useful roles for part spent nuclear fuel rods while they are still 'hot' for the first few years after removal, perhaps for things like heating public swimming pools and keeping the railway points ice free, we just need to be slightly less hysterical about what we think is a safe level of radioactive material to leave lying about. Maybe not safe  as hot blocks in domestic  storage heaters though ...

Mike

The key thing is the big hole where natural gas was trapped since the time of the dinosaurs, is known to be a stable and leak proof (and so safe) place to bury the waste which as well as being radioactive probably includes so very toxic chemicals. You do not need to have that much material between you and high level waste to make it safe from a radiation perspective - a few tens of metres of water depth will do, but what you do need is geological stability and no chance at all of ground water contamination.
A salt cavern that was a gas store is ideal

The cost of transporting the stuff across the country, even with all the bells and whistles that the modern nuclear regs require, is small compared with the rest of the operation.

I still think there are potentially  useful roles for part spent nuclear fuel rods while they are still 'hot' for the first few years after removal, perhaps for things like heating public swimming pools and keeping the railway points ice free, we just need to be slightly less hysterical about what we think is a safe level of radioactive material to leave lying about. Maybe not safe  as hot blocks in domestic  storage heaters though ...

Mike