There is waste with thorium reactors as well, so they need to be well run by competent people just as a conventional reactors. That said, the waste is easier to handle for several reasons, particularly in the liquid fuel type.
The waste in conventional reactors are of two types, fission procucts and higher actinides. The fision products are the result of splitted uranium atoms. These are intensively radioactive, with halflives from milliseconds to about 30 years.
Then there are higher actinides, with halflives up to tens of thousands of years. These are less radioactive, but still radioactive enough that they have to be safely stored. This storage must be safe for hundred of thousands of years, something that it is hard to guarantee. Fision products only need to be stored for about 600-800 years before they are no more radioactive than uranium ore. Thorium rectors produce virtually no higher actinides, so it is easier to find storage that is safe for the period it must stay out of reach. It is also less volume of the waste (but more concentrated, as the amount of radioactivity is about the same), since the fission products are not mixed with U238 as in conventional reactors. This means that less storage is needed, which also makes it easier to handle.
I do not mean the fission products. I mean every thing else, starting from the clothes for the staff, to maintanance materials and finally the reactor itself. A reactor produces far more waste than just the fission products.
The waste in conventional reactors are of two types, fission procucts and higher actinides. The fision products are the result of splitted uranium atoms. These are intensively radioactive, with halflives from milliseconds to about 30 years.
Then there are higher actinides, with halflives up to tens of thousands of years. These are less radioactive, but still radioactive enough that they have to be safely stored. This storage must be safe for hundred of thousands of years, something that it is hard to guarantee. Fision products only need to be stored for about 600-800 years before they are no more radioactive than uranium ore. Thorium rectors produce virtually no higher actinides, so it is easier to find storage that is safe for the period it must stay out of reach. It is also less volume of the waste (but more concentrated, as the amount of radioactivity is about the same), since the fission products are not mixed with U238 as in conventional reactors. This means that less storage is needed, which also makes it easier to handle.