Since there has been some debate in recent weeks over the cooling times for nuclear fuel rods, I thought I'd add this information found in an NRC Daily Event Report for Feb. 23, 1999. The "event" reported is a "Loss of offsite power due to loss of substation." It can be accessed by going to:

http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/

then clicking on the "Previous Reports" link.

This event report was for Big Rock Point, which is permanently shut down with the core offloaded to the spent fuel pool. The offsite power was only out for about 3 1/2 hours, but there are some statements on the pool cooling which might add to the data of those interested:

"Spent fuel pool cooling was lost due to the loss of offsite power. The current temperature of the spent fuel pool is 60 F. Spent fuel has been in the spent fuel pool for at least 540 days. The licensee said that it would take 14 days for the spent fuel pool to heat up to 150 F. Per the technical specifications, the licensee has 24 hours to restore an alternate method of cooling the spent fuel. The licensee said that they have a fire hose available to be used to supply cooling water to the spent fuel pool. The licensee said that the emergency diesel generator will be used to supply power so fire hose water can be supplied to the spent fuel pool if needed. The spent fuel pool temperature must heat up to 140 F before the licensee must declare an Unusual Event. The licensee has standby diesel if it is needed."

-- Anonymous, March 08, 1999