Our prime minister has declared that they have achived the cold shut down at the crippled nuclear reactors. It should be criticized in that it doesn't express the real situation of the nuclear reactors and it could deceive the people into unreasonable optimism for the future.
The cold shut down describes a stable controlled state of nuclear reactors where the nuclear fuel is cooled down. The intact reactor is prerequisite for that state. The reactors in Fukushima are not, of course, intact at all nor under control. The present conditions are far from the real cold shut down. Even though the announcement carefully avoids using the term of the cold shutdown itself, it could mislead the public into believing the situations are drastcically improving as well as stabilized. Actually, the mass media are reporting the news as the achivement of the cold shutdown.
It may be difficult for them to deal with the nuclear fuel being melt through the containments. The contaminated water, about 90000tons in quantity, could be poured into the ocean, that results in further pollution of the sea water and, eventually, the sea products.
This article on this isssue in the NY Times seems to keep to the point.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/world/asia/japan-set-to-declare-control-over-damaged-nuclear-reactors.html?_r=2
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