The spent rod pools are another matter since they are not contained under pressure. I still cannot figure out how you regain temperature control of an overheated core due to a total lack of cooling water? My industrial experience calls for the boiler fuel source to be locked out until the boiler is less than 100 degrees above ambient facility temperature. That can mean having to wait 24 hours to refire.
So I'm guessing that instead of cooling water pumps as reported, superheated steam has to be injected into the cooling system slowly. Then once the flow of superheated steam is able to peak at a manageable pressure, heat exchangers and makeup steam at incrementally reduced temperatures needs to happen. Something like no less than a few degree drop per six hours. I would thin once cooling steam reached condensate levels, you could introduce cooler makeup water and then really get thing cooled down. That whole proces would take months.
Thinking about your questions makes me realize something that I have been musing in my mind for some days now ...there must be A WHOLE LOT that we have no idea about, and the situation in Japan is not as bad as those saying meltdown claim, but at the same time it is nowhere as ‘ok’ as those FReepers calling folk Chicken Littles also claim it is. I believe there is a lot of information that is not being released, and it is only when things go a certain direction (e.g. a ‘success’ story yesterday today becoming one where workers get evacuated) that some news comes out because it cannot be kept down. I am not talking conspiracy or anything like that, simply stating that while it is not a Chernobyl it is also not ‘nothing to be concerned about’ or a ‘radiation is good for you’ scenario.