Category Archives: Nuclear

March 16 1979: “The China Syndrome” came out in theaters all over US. The movie revolves around a small team of journalists that happen to witness an accident while doing a report on a nuclear power plant. Although determined to get the word out with the help of the Shift Supervisor they soon meet strong resistance from the plant management who are trying to cover up the full extent of the event. It is mainly through this movie that many heard for the first time about the “China Syndrome”, a nuclear accident concept involving a total melting of the core followed by a fictitious trip through the Earth’s crust all the way down to the antipodes.1

March 28 1979 (less than 2 weeks afterward): Unit 2 in Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant, Pennsylvania, went through a serious accident that was completely tackled only a week later. The health and environmental effects were fortunately very limited if not non-existent, even though after opening the reactor vessel many years later it was discovered that the core had partially melted.

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1. Interestingly enough if we exclude Hawaii and Alaska US antipodes are actually not located in China but right in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The only dry land in this area is the French Southern and Antarctic Land (Kerguelen, Amsterdam and St. Paul islands). [↩]