>It was a HUGE stroke of luck that it didn't go much, much worse.
My understanding is that with Fukushima, with everything going wrong we had the potential for a "China syndrome" type situation ... and yet an old style reactor with fewer safeguards than modern reactors still managed to hold a melting down core.
Fukushima was a disaster, but the result might indicate some of the worst concerns (run away super hot melting core escaping containment) aren't very likely at all.
My understanding is that with Fukushima, with everything going wrong we had the potential for a "China syndrome" type situation ... and yet an old style reactor with fewer safeguards than modern reactors still managed to hold a melting down core.
Fukushima was a disaster, but the result might indicate some of the worst concerns (run away super hot melting core escaping containment) aren't very likely at all.