During Fiscal Year 1999, the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) continued to make significant progress in its characterization of the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, candidate geologic repository site. Although OCRWM's appropriation for Fiscal Year 1999 was lower than requested, the Program accomplished all three success measures in the Secretary's Fiscal Year 1999 Performance Agreement with the President and completed important work in many other areas. This Annual Report reviews this work and looks toward future activities.

Molten Salt Oxidation (MSO) is a promising alternative to incineration for the treatment of a variety of organic wastes. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has prepared a facility in which an integrated pilot-scale MSO treatment system is being tested and demonstrated. The system consists of a MSO vessel with a dedicated off-gas treatment system, a salt recycle system, feed preparation equipment, and a ceramic final waste forms immobilization system. This integrated system was designed and engineered based on operational experience with an engineering-scale reactor unit and extensive laboratory development on salt recycle and final forms preparation. The MSO/off-gas system has been operational since December 1997. The salt recycle system and the ceramic final forms immobilization became operational in May 1998. In FY98, we have tested the MSO facility with various organic feeds, including chlorinated solvents, tributyl phosphate/kerosene, PCB-contaminated waste oils and solvents, booties, plastic pellets, ion exchange resins, activated carbon, radioactive-spiked organics, and well-characterized low-level liquid mixed wastes. MSO is shown to be a versatile technology for hazardous waste treatment and may be a solution to many waste disposal problems in DOE sites. The results of the demonstration conducted in FY98 has been reported [1]. In FY99 (October 1998 to …