This is an interesting post from a nuclear engineer.
http://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=3231498&postcount=2987
So are they incompetent or were the numbers right and they are backtracking because of what those numbers would mean.
Can never open those physicsforum threads. Fails to find website.
Link to NYT article has this choice quote ...
“Someone who knows what they are doing could be off by 5 or 15 percent, and someone who doesn’t know what they are doing can be off by orders of magnitude,”
... the scary off-the-wall readings are from operator error. TEPCO has eff-ed it up. This is only compounding the situation of distrust and concern, although the technical reality is not as bad as some had assumed.