Amen to that, Brother!
Years ago I worked at a nuclear power plant during a refueling (called an "outage"). We were doing routine maintenance while the reactor was shut down. Once the job was finished we had a container partially filled with "low level nuclear waste". We were required to weigh the container and certify that weight in triplicate. Three forms, three people verify & sign.
What was this "low level nuclear waste"? The power tools and hand tools used in the "hot" work areas are kept in the secure "hot tool storage" between "outages", stored in heavy polyethylene bags which are taped shut with duct tape. When we checked these out of "hot tool storage" at the beginning of the job we removed these plastic bags. These bags and duct tape were now "low level nuclear waste". Disposable booties and rubber gloves also made up a large part of the total.
If we came out of a hot area and a small piece of mildly radioactive dust or dirt on our protective clothing or booties set off the Geiger counter alarm, we used a strip of 2" wide masking tape, wrapped a sticky side out around a hand, to grab the offending particle. This now became "low level nuclear waste". The Geiger alarm was set to sound at a reading of 150 dpm. IF you go to a sporting goods store and check the replacement mantle for Coleman gas lanterns you will find they read 2000 dpm.
External contamination and exposure are manageable occupational hazards. Time, distance, shielding, PPE, dosimetry. On the job we have all sorts of controls for safety.
The problem for the general public is internal contamination, primarily due to bioaccumulation of isotopes that are ingested (cesium, strontium) or inhaled (radioiodine, respirable dust). Particularly insidious are the alpha emitters, since those can be difficult to detect and from a radiation quality standpoint are about 20X worse than gamma photons. Much of what we accumulate in plant work or (especially) in NORM scenarios is alpha emmitting.
I am all for tight accounting for and segregation of radioactive waste. The point about the very slightly radioactive waster is valid, though I think it needs to be dumped out in very deep ocean, not near shore where it will bioaccumulate in seafood. The Japanese diet (small ‘d’) is VERY seafood-dependent. Its all about keeping those pesky Bequerels out of the human environment.