It's hard to believe that was a PBS "Frontline" article, with the reputation they have for being liberal. It was very sympathetic to the French program and the public support it enjoys in France.

It sounds like the French program works because the government has played a big role in managing it and standardizing it, instead of just handing it over piecemeal to the utilities, like we did here. You may recall this is precisely the approach I recommended in an earlier post on this topic.

"...while French citizens cannot control nuclear technology anymore than Americans, the fact that they trust the technocrats that do control it makes them feel more secure."

Not in the USA, I'm afraid. We definitely do not trust our government technocrats.

The problem of managing the wastes is not addressed directly in the article. It does mention that the volume of wastes is very small, which is true, but it doesn't say anywhere that it is dissolved in an enormous amount of highly corrosive acids with along with tons of structural metals and unfissioned nuclear fuel (the necessary first step in chemical extraction of the extremely radioactive fission products from the fuel elements). Neither does it mention that this process must be done entirely by remote control because of the radiation levels involved.

Although it never addresses in what form the wastes are stored, it appears the French are doing it exactly the same way we do, the used fuel elements are warehoused (probably in pools of water). Until they can figure out what to do with them.

In short, unless I've missed something, they've got the same problem we've got.