The reports from Fukushima, historically, have always underrated the problems. I don't expect that to change any time soon.
The situation is obviously at a catastrophic level and probably has been from the first day. To produce the hydrogen that exploded within 24 hours of the earthquake, the temperature of the fuel rods will have achieved around 1500 degrees K (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_meltdown).
I think it is a bit too optimistic to think that fuel rods have not already melted. The rods will have been damaged to such an extent that removal is probably impossible. The radiation levels are so high (because the fuel rods have melted) that they cannot even inspect the reactors or the spent fuel pools. If they don't keep pouring water over everything, the fuel will melt through the containment (at least one reactor vessel is thought to have the containment breeched). So they will probably keep pouring water for the foreseeable future.
Not withstanding of their efforts, as every day passes, more and more radioactive material is released, and if it hasn't already passed Chernobyl, it is only a matter of time before it does.
