[en] This paper describes the experiments on the air-coolability of a heated rod in a vertical open annulus at near atmospheric pressure. This data can be applied to the coolability of reactor fuel rods that are totally uncovered in a Loss-of-Coolant Accident (LOCA). As a prelude to measuring air coolability of specific core geometries (bundles), heat transfer data was collected for natural convection of atmospheric air in open vertical annuli with an isoflux inner wall and an insulated outer wall (diameter ratios, annulus ratio, of 1.155, 1.33, 1.63, and 12). Although the inner heated tube had the same overall dimensions as the fuel rod in the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) at Sandia National Laboratories (3.81 cm o.d. and 55.5 cm long), the heated length was only 36.0 cm rather than the entire 50.5 cm for the ACRR's rods. The test assembly was operated at heat fluxes up to 1.38 W/cm² with a corresponding surface temperature of 852 K. The annulus data was extrapolated to an equilibrium surface temperature of 1200 K (as a coolability limit of TRIGA reactors) to provide a qualitative estimate of the coolability of multirod bundles by free convection of atmospheric air. The results suggest that for a typical pitch-to-diameter ratio of 1.12 in the ACRR the decay heat removal level is about 1.0 kW/m. This corresponds to an initial decay power following sustained operations at about 12.5 kW/m in the ACRR. However, because of the uncertainties in duplicating the actual thermal-hydraulic conditions in a multirod bundle using a single rod annulus, the actual coolability of open pool reactors could be different from those suggested in this paper. (author)