b'1973 Loss of Fluid Test Facility The LOFT reactor was a critical resource in the safety testing program for commercial power reactors. A scale model of a commercial pressurized water power plant, it was built chiefly to explore the effects of loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs). Between 1978 and 1985, 38 nuclear plant accident scenarios were conducted, including a simulation of the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island. The program investigated the capability of emergency cooling systems to prevent core damage. In July 1985, the nuclear tests concluded witha deliberate melting of the reactors test-fuel bundle, somewhat fulfilling LOFTsoriginal destiny as a meltdown reactor and representing the most comprehensivesevere-fuel-damage test ever conducted in a nuclear reactor. 51'