[Vaquero]

they are pumping salt water to keep this from meltdown

[mad_as_he$$]

I heard this am that they could not pump in the seawater fast enough to cover the core. It was evaporating.

[GonzoGOP]

they are pumping salt water to keep this from meltdown

Apparently not fast enough. You have to pump in water fast enough to keep the rods completely submerged. Air just can't transfer heat fast enough to cool them and once out of the water they melt quickly. Now there is a big difference between partially melted rods and a melt down. But once the rods get exposed you are looking at a massively more expensive cleanup. You can't just pull the rods out for disposal any more since once they melt they tend to get stuck in place. So you have to dispose of the entire reactor vessel as a unit like they did at Three Mile Island. Getting this thing safely disposed of is going to be a seriously no fun engineering problem. Certainly one more than the Japanese need a the moment.