Newer processes produce no fission products with a half life > 100y. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Thorium_fuel_... Proper reprocessing can dramatically reduce the amount of waste produced, and the toxicity therein.
Just generally, but why would you expect insuring a nuclear plant to be any more painful then insuring a pesticide plant/etc? A leaky pesticide plant can easily wipe a town off the map. A leaky dam can wash away a city with ease.
I mean if you screw up your shale oil extraction you can end up with oil/natural gas leaking in to groundwater for hundreds of k's. Similarly with a burst dam at a gold mine, or....
There are large numbers of things that can cause massive ecological damage. A good number of them are that bad that they arn't ever really reported: http://newsdesk.org/2010/06/niger-delta-oil-spills-dwarf-bp-... as they continue on for years. It's just that some of them are easier to use to sell papers then others.