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
Nuclear meltdown inert nitrogen, which prevented hydrogen from burning in the containment. However, the hydrogen leaked from the containment to the reactor building where it mixed with air and exploded. During the 1979 Three Mile Island accident a hydrogen bubble formed in the pressure vessel dome. There were initial concerns that this hydrogen bubble might ignite and damage the pressure vessel or even damage the containment building; but it was soon realized that a lack of oxygen precluded a burnable or explosive mixture from forming inside the pressure vessel. One scenario consists of the reactor pressure vessel failing all at once, with