The meltdown at Fukushima amounted to a very small proportion of the total damage incurred by the tsunami. No deaths due to radiation besides a couple plant workers are expected. The exclusion zone was cleaned up and reopened after about a decade. The learnings from this event should be that nuclear isn't actually all that risky, relative to how much carbon-free energy it generates.
We already have a perfectly good fusion reactor. It's about 1 AU away, and it's beaming more power to us than any Kardashev Type I civilization could ever use (and small-scale fusion will be useless to any Type II civilization anyway).
So a fusion reaction will gradually irradiate the generator that is creating the reaction.
A molten salt reactor which consumes virtually all of its nuclear fuel as the closest approximation to your desire to have nuclear reactors without nuclear waste.
Edit: I recall that helium 3 fusion may actually be pretty neutron free. But you got to get your hands on a lot of helium 3