[justa-hairyape]

TMI even with just a partial core melt, still broke through a control rod solenoid seal at the bottom of the reactor. The corium flow was stopped inside the control rod mechanism tubing. Technically it had broke out through one of the RPV seals. The seals are just welds.

[Ditto]

TMI even with just a partial core melt, still broke through a control rod solenoid seal at the bottom of the reactor. The corium flow was stopped inside the control rod mechanism tubing.

Wrong accident. TMI was a Pressurized Water Reactor. The control rods on PWRs are all through the vessel head, not the bottom of the reactor. There are no control rod penetrations at the bottom of a PWR reactor vessel. And what the hell is a solenoid seal?

The core melt at TMI did damage in-core instrumentation penetrations at the bottom of the vessel, but the melt never extended beyond the vessel, and even if it had, the containment structure was never violated.

They managed to destroy a Billion Dollars worth of equipment at TIM, but it was never a China Syndrome. That was just a stupid Jane Fonda movie.