The China Syndrome is a notion that refers to a possible extreme result of a nuclear meltdown in which molten reactor core products breach the barriers below them and flow downwards through the floor of the containment building. The origin of the phrase is the facetious concept that molten material from an American reactor may melt through the crust of the earth and reach China.^[1] This concept and reference however is a phrase limited to the popular understanding of nuclear power and has no technical or scientific bearing whatsoever.

History and usage

The large size of nuclear power plants ordered during the late 1960s raised new safety questions and created fears of a severe reactor accident that would send large quantities of radiation into the environment. In the early 1970s a contentious controversy over the performance of emergency core cooling systems in nuclear power plants, designed to prevent a core meltdown that could lead to the China syndrome, was discussed in the popular media and in technical journals.^[2]

In 1971, nuclear physicist Ralph Lapp used the term "China Syndrome" to describe the burn-through of the reactor vessel, the penetration of the concrete below it, and the emergence of a mass of hot fuel into the soil below the reactor. He based his statements on the report of a task force of nuclear physicists headed by Dr. W.K. Ergen, published in 1967.^[3] The dangers of such a hypothetical accident were publicized by the 1979 film, The China Syndrome.

The name refers to the idea of the nuclear material burning a hole from the United States to 'the other side of the world', i.e., China^[4] — an impossibility, as the material would cool well before it reached the Earth's core, and even if it did remain hot, it would not be able to displace the material around it or go all the way up to the surface in China due to gravitational forces.

If radioactive slag were to reach the water table beneath the reactor building, the resulting steam could throw radioactive material into the air, producing fallout.^{[citation needed]} Despite several meltdowns in both civilian and military reactors, such an extreme meltdown has never taken place. Almost all current reactor designs do not allow such a meltdown to occur, either by preventing any meltdown (such as in a TRIGA reactor) or by dispersing any molten material so that it cools and solidifies.^{[citation needed]}

In popular fiction

• In an episode of The Simpsons titled "The Trouble with Trillions", Homer claims that he was responsible for "three meltdowns and one China Syndrome".
• In an episode of The Simpsons titled "The Wettest Stories Ever Told", Mr. Burns expresses his love for the sea by noting that there are no China Syndromes (referring to the movie).
• In an episode of The Simpsons titled "Marge's Son Poisoning", a porcelain shop called "The China Syndrome" can be seen.
• In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla’s nuclear reactor (his heart) is predicted to go through an immense version of China Syndrome that will result in the Earth’s destruction after reaching a temperature of 1,200 °C, but this is prevented.
• The professional wrestler Chyna had merchandise that said "Chyna Syndrome".
• In The Hunt for Red October the Soviet submarine Politovskiy is sunk by an occurrence of the China Syndrome, as later noted by Lieutenant Ames.
• The 1979 movie, The China Syndrome was based around this theory.
• A similar effect is predicted in Frank Herbert's 1969 novel Dune Messiah, in which a "stone burner" uses nuclear fuel to blind victims and can burrow into the crust of a planet, potentially destroying it.

In a deleted scene available on the show's official website from an episode of the U.S. version of the TV show The Office called "Frame Toby" Pam jokingly ebbs on Michael Scott's mental complex by offering up the possibility that he has China Syndrome.