Made popular by the 1979 movie of the same name. The Uranium pellets in the rod quickly become so hot that they reach their melting point, burning through the zirconium fuel rod casing and the containment chamber floor causing a widespread release of radiation.Ĭhina Syndrome is a hypothetical disaster that could occur under meltdown conditions. If the heat generated from the fission reaction is so great that it causes a majority of the water to boil off exposing the fuel rods to air. The fuel rods are kept submerged underwater, with the water acting as a coolant. What actually causes a meltdown? A meltdown occurs in a reactor when the fuel isn't being adequately cooled. The effects of a meltdown can last for hundreds of years as the radiation slowly decays. It is important to remember that a nuclear meltdown isn't a singular tragic event as is often the case with natural disasters. The top three most disastrous meltdowns include Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, and Fukushima Daiichi in 2011. Radiation can not be seen, smelled, or tasted and exposure can lead to serious side effects such as hair loss, skin blisters, tumors, and cancer and if the dose is large enough, death. Since 1952 there have been fourteen meltdowns of varying severity at both commercial, military, and experimental reactors. A nuclear meltdown is the worst case scenario for a nuclear power plant, causing widespread releases of deadly radiation into the environment that can spread hundreds of miles away impacting wildlife as well as humans.
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