I don't trust the coal industry to manage forever chemicals over the long term, and I don't trust the nuclear industry to manage spent nuclear fuel over the long term.

The question that matters for both industries is what bad things happen when their stewardship inevitably lapses and the happy path dead-ends.

I don't like either answer, so that heightens the urgency of pursuing alternatives with fewer long-lived hazardous byproducts. Neither coal nor nuclear is an acceptable long term solution.

There were also big proliferation concerns out of 70s era designs.