China syndrome

China syndrome

A scenario in which a nuclear reactor meltdown in North America would theoretically melt a hole straight through the Earth to China (which is impossible). In more realistic usage, it describes such a meltdown reaching groundwater and forcing subsequent radioactive gases into the atmosphere. The latter scenario was used as the basis of a 1979 film of the same name starring Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda. While many advocate nuclear power as clean and safe, the risk of catastrophes such as China syndrome make me very nervous about its use.
See also: china, syndrome
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • be in a hole
  • glory hole
  • melt
  • dig in
  • dig in(to) (something)
  • dig into
  • come back (down) to earth
  • back to earth
  • burning
References in periodicals archive
Hanson, University of California, San Diego and NBER, "The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the U.S."
International trade and investment
* CHINA SYNDROME: Jenson Button (right) celebrates with team principal Martin Whitmarsh and teammate Lewis Hamilton
Button to push hard
But only three years later, "China Syndrome" heralded the new kind of reporter.
Stop the presses: they're not shouting that anymore even in the movies
The China Syndrome, a Hollywood thriller about a fictional accident at a U.S.
1979 Three Mile Island: an accident at a Pennsylvania reactor transfixed the nation and hobbled America's Nuclear Energy Industry. Is it poised for a comeback?
WITH regard to a recent letter from A Stephenson (China Syndrome, 26.09.08), the North would still have the world's best shipbuilding and manufacturing businesses if the last government hadn't closed them down.
Letter: Your Say - Mrs Thatcher snatched jobs
Yet, my favorite part of the course comes late each semester when more nontraditional genres are explored, from cult movies like "The Princess Bride" (1987) and "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994), to problem films such as "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967) and "The China Syndrome" (1979).
All about real people
Canada, France, and Japan are also using nuclear power without the fear and loathing engendered by fright films like The China Syndrome and Silk wood.
PIMBY
Blues became embroiled in a China Syndrome sort of fiasco when the directors accepted Yeung's pounds 15million offer for a 29.9 per cent stake in the club with the object of a takeover last December.
Football: Gold can clear up mess
The authors observe that Fonda's antinuclear thriller "The China Syndrome," which opened just 12 days before the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, helped stoke "a widespread panic." Fonda became a high-profile anti-nuke activist in an already-strong movement.
'NYT' Sunday Preview: Jane Fonda to Blame for Global Warming?
Mike Gray, who penned "The China Syndrome," is writing the script.
Their finest hour: documentary aims to boost Coast Guard's public image
Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, nukes in the wrong hands, and "The China Syndrome" film generated a lot of phobia regarding nuclear that is part truth and part fiction.
Nuclear reaction
The subject is the source and warning signs of the next pandemic, and the methodology of its spread is the focus of CHINA SYNDROME: THE TRUE STORY OF THE 21ST CENTURY'S FIRST GREAT EPIDEMIC.
China Syndrome
But their predicted worst-case accident, called the "China Syndrome," did not transpire.
Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective
The China Syndrome (1979) features lack Lemmon as a nuclear plant employee who stumbles into a conspiracy to cover-up the plant's faulty safety mechanisms.
L.A. environmental: Hollywood's Best and Worst "Green" Movies
Merely to be seen next to her was as toxic as the nuclear meltdown at the center of one of her many memorable movies, The China Syndrome. How else to explain that "Hanoi Jane Urinal Stickers" still sell briskly on the Web?
Why I'm Fonda Hanoi Jane: actress, activist, American. What's not to like?