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The latest generations of nuclear plants are designed to recycle and thereby use up more of the energy in fuel, resulting in less radioactive waste, and less of a half-life of the waste it creates. So far, none of these latest generation plants have been built in the U.S. But every plant in the U.S. eventually will need to be decommissioned, and they should be replaced with the latest design plants as they are shut down. I hadn't heard about the glass-encasement method Xenophon described (and wouldn't mind sources or details), but I could see something like that as an effective way to store less-active wastes (though I'm pretty sure no one will let you use those things for a school foundation!).
I think nuclear can be part of an overall national energy strategy, combined with other renewable sources, and sensible conservation, especially if the radioactive waste issues can be dealt with. But I also think that if we use the renewable resources at our disposal and maintain sensible conservation, we may not even need a single nuke plant.
A note about solar to Harry: So many designs and configurations are being studied for solar, many of which do not require expensive or toxic compounds, that I would not count out solar based on toxicity concerns.
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