[Revel]

The reason they can do that is because they are continuously venting.

I also believe they are doing more than venting. Remember the report yesterday about how they increased the amount of sea water by 9 times in reactor core 1(I believe) in order to cool it down.

Now it does not take much understanding to figure out that the coolant outlet is therefore wide open with the water running onto the land and into the sea. I believe that there no longer is a coolant loop. They are simply blasting water in and letting it run out into the environment. A continuing last effort attempt to prevent total meltdown. This prevents steam pressure buildup.

[blackdog]

Ever hit stainless steel with water when it’s hot? Welcome to the steel pretzel factory.

[meyer]

The reason they can do that is because they are continuously venting.

I don't think they've vented the containment shells on 1 through 3 for the last couple of days. I think that the reactors are hot, but stable. It's the spent fuel pools that are of greater concern now.

[Drill Thrawl]

They are simply blasting water in and letting it run out into the environment. A continuing last effort attempt to prevent total meltdown. This prevents steam pressure buildup.

That sounds like a reasonable assumption based on reports but I'm wondering....

That is releasing a heck of a lot of radiation into the environment. Why not just let it go into meltdown, wait fives years to cool and then clean it up. The plants are toast anyway, it's not like there is anything to save at this point beyond reducing exterior contamination.

[meatloaf]

Revel, you're way off base. Any water vented from the reactor goes into the torus. If the torus breaches, the water is still contained in the ... steel lined massively reinforced concrete containment building. This should give you an idea of the how large a containment building is. You can see the steel liner. This is a photo of a BWR reactor (400 tons) being set.

[StAnDeliver]

"Now it does not take much understanding to figure out that the coolant outlet is therefore wide open with the water running onto the land and into the sea. I believe that there no longer is a coolant loop. They are simply blasting water in and letting it run out into the environment. A continuing last effort attempt to prevent total meltdown."

I have a similar take. That the MOX is headed towards a potential (albeit theoretical) alpha-mode failure and/or RPV breach; and that any mitigating action is permissible, steam explosion perhaps almost preferable to an alpha ejection or (perhaps inevitable) corium breach of the RPV.