The US was accepting Russian warhead "packages" for reprocessing since the Russians didn't have the facilities or money to do it themselves after a reduction treaty. US reactors use a slightly enriched (U235 added to U238) fuel, so acquiring material with a higher U235 content for "free" is a good deal. It means not having to run inefficient isotope separation machines.
Short half-life: Very radioactive
Long half-life: Much less, low radioactivity
I'd like to see more countries working on LFTR reactors and other nuclear technology conceived to be safer and produce less waste. China has a LFTR program based on information they were given on the cancelled US program from many years ago. If they are left unchallenged, they will own the patents going forward and all other countries will be buying reactors from them.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
