Were there passive control rods that failed to drop?
There might be a time lag before diminishing the nuclear reaction, in which case there might be an upward temperature excursion followed by a downward one.
As usual, precious few calculations. Worrisome, to be sure, but I'm staying tuned.
__________________
In vino veritas; in cervisia carmen; in aqua E. coli.
This calls new design consideration of cooling system for places like Japan. It should have been mitigated before. Nuclear power plants definitely unsafe to be built in these regions. The nuclear history had been repeated to them, first by WWII now by an earthquake.
__________________
" To infinity and beyond" - Buzz Lightyear
Reactors should be built with passive emergency cooling.
If no active action: pumps, electricity, control is necessary to provide the after-heat cooling capacity then this situation would not be nearly as critical!
Emergency cooling water storage on-top the reactor vessel with rupture disks to release some or all of the water if inside pressure is too high and similar if inside cooling is too low.
Second: any hydrogen at pressure is a potential high risk.
Why do they allow this?
Bring in oxygen to reburn it to water. This is an inverse flame, that is burning at the mixing zone of the oxygen and the inside will stay with enough hydrogen to continue burning until the pressure is down.
There seems to be also a problem with the total shutdown of the nuclear reaction as they pumped seawater enriched with boron into the reactor. Boron is a neutron absorber. So what is going on???
I wonder why people rated here off topic, where there are no questions. Rating sucks. That's why I seldom rate. I've seen some people around here give GA to good jokes and rating is a bit influenced by politics, friendship & flags.
Reality bites and logic don't give a damn on emotion.
__________________
" To infinity and beyond" - Buzz Lightyear