[rednesss]

"And what if the waste produced by such a reactor was radioactive for a mere few hundred years rather than tens of thousands? It may sound too good to be true, but such a reactor is indeed possible"

Yeah it's called a fast breeder reactor. Uses mainly U-238 and "burns" plutonium. If this country wasn't a complete moron when it comes to reprocessing spent fuel rods etc. then Yucca Mtn. wouldn't need to be built to last millions of years. Thank you Jimmah Carter.

[BlackJack]

Breeder reactors burn U235 and produce plutonium as a by-product.
Thorium burns up the plutonium. No weapons application.

[MikeD]

And thank you Bill Clinton for shutting down the last US breeder reactor at Idaho National Labs. Now, they have to restart it if we want to build more RTGs for spacecraft. New Horizons was launched with leftover fuel from the Cassini probe (launched many years ago), and I think some fuel bought from Russia.