23 1959 Transient Reactor Test Facility Originally designed as part of the safety program for fast breeder reactors, the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility was a reactor designed to produce short, controlled bursts of nuclear energy that would simulate accident conditions leading to fuel damage.This could include melting or even vaporizing test specimens, but the reactor’s driver fuel would remain undamaged.The data helped refine computer simulations of reactor accidents and ultimately helped in the design of safer reactors and fuels. Many of the nuclear fuel types currently used in reactors operating in the United States and around the world were tested in TREAT, which was put on operational standby in 1994.