"The waste, a small constituent of spent fuel itself, is what drives all the requirements for disposal and storage," Kraft said. "With reprocessing, you do have a smaller item to deal with. Radiation and heat levels are the same, that's the key point."
The Finnish bedrock at Olkiluoto is crystalline rock. Having secured the site, the Finns now are working on excavation and licensing.
"I know the Finnish people have come to seem to be more accepting and see the financial benefits and have trust that it's going to be done correctly," Kraft said.
Aside from the IAEA, which doesn't have any binding authority over nations, there's no international governing body whose job is to make sure there's a long-term plan for nuclear waste, which, with a few exceptions of centralized storage spots, is simply being stored at all of the sites where it was generated. There are more than 100 sites in the US alone.
Still, the international agency is trying to do its part, training engineers from countries as varied as China, South Korea, South Africa, Argentina, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia on both the scientific and social challenges of nuclear waste disposal.
"(The IAEA) can make suggestions and give guidelines, but the real control comes from the individual national authorities," said Gray, who operates a series of underground laboratories at various research facilities in the US, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium.
He says he's encouraged by the efforts of growing countries to come up with a plan for their waste.
Gray said China plans to add 23 new reactors to the few it has already and is incorporating waste management early on its plans. "They're being very, very responsible for their attitudes in that regard," he said.
Several trainees from India also have taken part in the international program, he said.
"They do have a large waste management section in the research institute," Gray said.
The international cooperation is important because so few people worldwide have the technological knowledge to deal with nuclear waste, he said.
"Fundamentally it will end up being an international concern," Gray said.
More than 400 nuclear power plants are in operation worldwide.
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