JasonG: The environmental impact of nuclear power is nothing compared to the impact from your average coal burning plant. What a lot of environmentalist nuts don't realize, that in their crusade to prevent nuclear power plants from opening up shop in the U.S., the environment has gotten much more polluted. The energy demand needs to be fulfilled, and this demand sure can't being fulfilled entirely by solar and hydroelectric power (most of it is gas, and coal burning).
Here in the U.S., all used up nuclear waste gets stored under a mountain in the Nevada desert, several hundreds of miles away from the nearest city. In the unlikely event that an earthquake swept through this region, cracking the mountain open, and was followed by a tropical storm causing a flash flood, little more than a few cacti and rattlesnakes would be affected.
Before you go all nuts on Republicans/conservatives, let me point out that nations with very left-wing, "environmentally concious" governments like France, Germany, etc. get over 50% of their power from nuclear power plants, whereas here in the U.S. we only get about 20%.