The China Syndrome

Hello Everyone,
Last Thursday TEF convened in Sophia Gordon to watch The China Syndrome, a fictional movie portraying the event of a nuclear meltdown. This film stars Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and Jack Lemmon and was nominated in the Academy Awards for Best Leading Actor and Actress, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Writing, and Best Screenplay. The title of the movie describes a nuclear meltdown - where the reactor components of a nuclear plant become so hot that they melt through their containment structures "all the way to China."
Jane Fonda leads us through this action packed film as a television news reporter uncovering the safety threats of a nuclear power plant. While Fonda and her cameramen are filming a story on Energy at the nuclear power plant, the plant’s system detects a serious problem. Witnessing an intense moment of panic in the control room, Fonda is told that the nuclear reactor has returned to normal and everything is safe. However, throughout the rest of the movie, Fonda and the audience discover that the plant is anything but safe.
This film was released in theaters on March, 16th, 1979, only twelve days before the nuclear accident on Three Mile Island in Dauphin, Pennsylvania. Three Mile Island was the first of only three nuclear accidents to occur in history. The Chernobyl Disaster on 26 April 1986 had far more devastating repercussions than then Three Mile Island and the current Japan nuclear crisis cannot yet be analyzed for its total damage. However, because Three Mile Island was the first nuclear accident and it followed so soon after the release of The China Syndrome, the American public was left in a heated debate about the future of nuclear energy.
Hope everyone had a fun Halloween Weekend, and is looking forward to our next meet on Thursday November 10th, when we will host a debate with guest speakers!