Nice from you to come back to so many users!
I agree with you: finding a way to reuse the waste is the way to go. The temporary/permanent storage options are not options in my opinion, as it is hard to project ourselves on time frames as long as those associated with the life-time of the problematic elements.
It hasn't worked out so far and France, which has a lot of nuclear, is still producing clearly less CO2. Germany is producing almost double CO2 per capita compared to France
Germany is producing very little CO2 sometimes during the year. The problem is when their renewable energy plants are not producing enough and that the coal plants are switched on. Then Germany is producing way more CO2 than anyone else. In contrast, the amount of CO2 per capita released by France is much more constant all over the year.
A good point. The current energy storage solutions are not cost-efficient enough in a very large scale, which causes most renewables to be backed up by fossil fuel power plants.
As solar and wind power do not provide the consistency required, but I'm hoping a leap in battery technology can help to solve this. Sadly while we're waiting for it to happen, coal/oil/gas plants are turned on when renewables can't produce enough energy.