I believe they tried to inject some chemicals to slow the reaction, but the pump and/or valves failed and clogged.
That is active.
Something passive could be submerging the tank in a pool of water (also good for proving spill containment won't leak).
I was thinking maybe have those chemicals sitting in a glass or temperature sensitive container inside the tank. So when there's too much pressure or heat, the container containing the neutralizing chemical is broken like a fuse and the chemical is automatically released.