Because this was a reactor that operated on water that was already at its boiling point, this also meant that the pressure inside the reactor was rising as well.
As of 14:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Friday, the temperature of water inside the cooling pool at reactor 3 was 15.1C, well below the safety limit of 65C, Tepco said.
"Any reactor in the country that is faced with a station blackout or a loss of power and a backup is not as well-positioned as the reactor in Japan, " said Mr. Lochbaum.
The core of a nuclear reactor operates at about 550 degrees Fahrenheit, well below the temperature of a coal furnace and only slightly hotter than a kitchen oven.
The optimist and competent decision makers at Petrobras did not plan to leave this reactor sitting at the port but since Rio de Janeiro highways do not support the weight of the equipment, well it is stuck there.