The China Syndrome The China Syndrome The China Syndrome is a 1979 American disaster thriller film directed by James Bridges and written by Bridges, Mike Gray, and T. S. Cook. It tells the story of a television reporter and her cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. It stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, and Michael Douglas, with Douglas also serving as the film's producer. The cast also features Scott Brady, James Hampton, Peter Donat, Richard Herd, and Wilford Brimley. "China syndrome" is a fanciful term—not intended to be taken literally—that describes a fictional result of a nuclear meltdown, where reactor
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (Unit 2 Reactor) severely. In the hours and days that followed, Reactors 1, 2 and 3 experienced full meltdown. In an attempt to halt a meltdown, the government ordered that seawater be used to cool the reactors, as no alternative was available at the time. Because of the delay in this process, meltdown progressed, depositing most of the melted fuel at the bottom of the reactor vessel. The heat and pressure of the melting reactors, caused a reaction between the nuclear fuel metal cladding and the remaining water producing explosive hydrogen gas. As workers struggled to cool and shut down the reactors, several