I've read that there are 3 plants with cooling problems.
Yes. There is definitely more than one plant with problems. Last I read. . . 2 were quite serious.
The Daiichi #1 is the most troubling. I was a bit rushed with my last post -> I think things will be much clearer tomorrow evening (Monday morning in Japan). The one thing that is unclear to me is that if the reactor is being pumped full of seawater -> what is happening to that water? Presumably, it is boiling off (thus providing cooling) and then being vented? That vented steam would be slightly radioactive.
On the plus side. . .if the radiation levels are actually dropping as is being reported -> that probably means the reactor is well progressed in cooling down. On the minus side . . . crap. What a mess. Of course, if as Bob said that the control rods may not have been fully inserted -> then things could be really, really bad as the reactor may not be really cooling down. From everything I read, if the reports regarding Cesium being found in the environment are true; then we were well on the path to the worst case scenario.
I am mostly guessing. Are there any Nuclear engineers on the board?