Fast Flux Test Facility

Over the next three years, the active parts of the facility were gradually halted, fuel rods removed and stored in above-ground dry storage vessels.

However, in January 1997, the DOE ordered that the reactor be maintained in a standby condition, pending a decision as to whether to incorporate it into the US Government's tritium production program, for both medical and fusion research.

In May 2005 the core support basket was drilled to drain the remaining sodium coolant, which effectively made the reactor unusable.

[citation needed] As the coolant was drained, the system was filled with high purity argon gas to prevent corrosion.

Achievements cited include: The probable successor to the FFTF will be the Versatile Test Reactor, which will roughly have the same size and capabilities as future test reactor and which will be built at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho or Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee in the 2020s.