[acidburnNSA]

Yeah the reduction of long-term radiotoxicity achievable by partitioning and transmuting spent nuclear fuel really is astounding.

I'm not totally convinced that uranium mining will ever be more expensive than reprocessing. For one thing, (and especially when you go to deep-burn non-reprocessing breeder reactors) the required uranium is so minuscule that extracting the (near infinite and truly renewable) uranium from seawater is practical using tech that's 3-6x more expensive today than traditional mining.

On the other hand advances in industrial controls and robotics could conceivably reduce reprocessing costs.

Either option would be fine for a much expanded nuclear fleet providing 24/7 low-footprint carbon-free energy.