I don’t know anything about nuke reactors, but this sounds like 100% BS.
It’s hard to imagine it getting much worse than it already is. Fuel pools went dry and fuel caught fire. Reactor buildings blown apart by hydrogen explosions. Reactors went full meltdown (and didn’t burn through the Earth to -I guess it would be Argentina?
It’s as bad as it gets right now and yet we aren’t all dead. In fact, it’s unlikely that anyone is going to die as a direct and indisputable result of this disaster.
That is not to make light of it. It is still one hell of a mess and a serious threat to public safety and health, not to mention it will cost a fortune to clean up. But the apocalyptic predictions of the anti nuke crowds never came to pass even in this worst of the worst case scenarios.
“a mishandled rod may go critical”
I don’t think a single rod can go critical under any circumstances.