[en] The paper describes part of the R and D work performed on ball bearings operated in a liquid sodium environment and tested under conditions which are felt to be representative for high precision mechanisms in LMFBR's. After a short introduction, mainly dealing with the experimental results of other authors, a description will be given of the test facility, the test procedure, the ball bearings and the basis for the selection of the materials. The paper covers the experimental phase, which has been carried out in two steps. In the first phase material screening tests demonstrated the tungsten-carbide-cobalt cermet to be superior to the other materials tested with respect to friction and wear. This material, therefore, was selected for a more detailed parameter test programme during phase 2. Up to now a series of tests have been performed with bearing load and speed as parameters, indicating that fatigue is the life limiting factor. It shows that a life-load relationship, similar to that known for conventional ball bearing technology, also seems appropriate for the test conditions and environment investigated here