A couple of questions about BWR systems in this crisis mode. You said:
Pumping sea water IN does not imply leaking sea water out.
They are using an available source of water to continue replacing water that is being boiled off by the fuel. They have a problem that there's not a turbine they can dump the steam to because everything is broken, nor is there likely to be an approved steam dump because they don't have condenser function. So they are probably just venting steam and replenishing liquid as best they can.
So, basically, what you're implying here is that the formerly closed loop of a BWR system, which is now lacking a condenser system, is operating as an open loop system (sea water in and steam out) which, while bad, is far less bad than an exposed core and the possibility of a 4,000 degree core temp that would drop through the bottom until it stalls X feet (50? 70?) below the reactor building, and likely making a big mess of things as it goes. The boric acid they are also dumping in is to deliver boron to help damp the reaction, correct?
As time goes on the decay heat output will diminish as the fission products finish they job of decaying.
I know that the decay heat output will diminish, but I was of the opinion that the lifetime of the fission products is quite long - but are you implying that the highly uncontrolled fission reaction is, by simple fact that it's highly uncontrolled, consuming fissile materials so that there will be less material to react, and thus less time spent reacting?
I know a core breach would be exceedingly bad, not so much for the fact that the core itself is melting, but from the influx of water into the hole that would result and the explosive reaction that would happen as cooling water, metals and so on mixed with the ultra-high temperature slag. That's the Bad Thing that I think we're talking about here, right?
And even a meltdown with a large "eruption" of steam and other particulates would eventually stabilize, right?
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