reply to post by JakiusFogg
When the quake hit, all control rods should have been fully inserted automatically and all the reactors shut down. The only issue, then, is the latent
heat in the reactor and that the cooling system had failed, preventing the removal of this heat. The full insertion of control rods has been confirmed
by company officials.
The fact that they are using seawater (mixed with Boron) indicates that they do not ever intend to re-start the reactor as seawater will cause long
term corrosion damage which will be sped up by radiation.
The use of the seawater & Boron, with the fuel rod casing is known to cause outgassing of Hydrogen when heated sufficiently. It is this Hydrogen that
is combusting explosively when it hits the atmosphere outside the containment vessel.
The thing is, the reactor SHOULD be slowly cooling after shutdown. In fact, according to recent reports, the temperature is increasing.