syseng68k:
If those batteries didn't suffer from thermal runaway, then what was it ?.
It was two sequential occurrences:
1. "Cell thermal runaway" in one cell, followed by
2. "Battery thermal runaway" as it spread to other cells.
Fortunately "aircraft thermal runaway" (otherwise to be known only as "thermal runaway") did not occur as a result.
PS: The above is what I feel to be an accurate paraphrase of the descriptions given during the 1 1/2 hour Boeing webcast from Japan.
You are clearly an ungood, or maybe even plus-ungood Newspeaker.