The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) is a 400-megawatt (thermal) sodium-cooled, high temperature, fast neutron flux, loop-type test reactor. The facility was constructed to support development and testing of fuels, materials and equipment for the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor program. FFTF began operation in 1980 and over the next 10 years demonstrated its versatility to perform experiments and missions far beyond the original intent of its designers. The reactor had several distinctive features including its size, flux, core design, extensive instrumentation, and test features that enabled it to simultaneously carry out a significant array of missions while demonstrating its features that contributed to a high level of plant safety and availability. FFTF is currently being deactivated for final closure.

The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF)is a 400 MW (th) sodium-cooled fast flux test reactor located on the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State. The FFTF is operated by the Westinghouse Hanford Company for the United States Department of Energy. The FFTF is a three loop plant designed primarily for the purpose of testing full-scale core components in an environment prototypic of future liquid metal reactors. The plant design emphasizes features to enhance this test capability, especially in the area of the core, reactor vessel, and refueling system. Eight special test positions are provided in the vessel head to permit contact instrumented experiments to be installed and irradiated. These test positions effectively divide the core into three sectors. Each sector requires its own In-Vessel Handling Machine (IVHM) to access all the core positions. Since the core and the in-vessel refueling components are submerged under sodium, all handling operations must be performed blind. This puts severe requirements on the positioning ability are reliability of the refueling components. This report addresses the operating experience with the fuel handling system from initial core loading in November, 1979 through 1986. This includes 9 refueling cycles. 2 refs., 8 figs.

This report was prepared at Pacific Northwest Laboratory by Battelle-Northwest (BNW) under Contract No. AT(45-1)-1830 for the Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Reactor Development and Technology. It is a report on design-related technical progress for the Fast Flux Test Facility, during the period October 1, 1968 through February 28, 1969.