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The China Syndrome

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The movie The China Syndrome brings attention to the dangers of using nuclear energy and the power of the corrupt news media. Announcing in front of the Ventana Nuclear Power Plant operated by the California Gas and Electric Company, Kimberly Wells is portrayed as a devoted and enthusiastic reporter. Kimberly, cameraman Richard Adams, and camera assistant Hector Salas are informed by the power plant's public relations officer about how the nuclear power plant works, the energy system of the age, and the stages of energy production. Wandering around the control room, the team witnesses an accident occurring in the nuclear power plant. The staff informs the reporters that everything is under control, but the crisis that they try to conceal and trivialize is actually a nuclear meltdown. Richard secretly films the panic of the engineers despite being asked not to. Shortly after, shift supervisor Jack Godell brings everything under control, though he knows that something is alarmingly wrong when he feels a vibration. Kimberly, who wants to report the accident to the public, is forced to keep the accident secret due to the company’s constraints. During the plant inspection, Jack discovers some radioactive water leak from the pump and immediately proceeds to check the radiographs and realizes that the X-rays used to check the welds at the plant have been falsified. Jack, in response, demands new radiographs from the company, which immediately gets denied as they are extremely costly.

During Kimberley and Richard's visit to Godell's home, the dramatic conflict escalates when the latter admits that the plant is unsafe due to faulty welding. Kimberley and Richard insist that Jack would testify and tell the truth about the accident to the public. However, he refuses. Nevertheless, Jack tries to explain to his colleagues that if the nuclear power plant is operating at full capacity, an explosion is inevitable, but he is unsuccessful. Wanting to prevent this, Jack seizes the guard's gun and takes the control room hostage. He calls Kimberly and states that he is willing to give an interview live. On the live broadcast in the control room, Jack talks about the danger of a nuclear power plant accident until the police shot him in the room. The media announces that Jack's death was due to his “loss of sanity” and the potential damage he could cause to the power plant. The movie ends with the engineer revealing that Jack did not go insane and in fact, he entitles him as a hero as he saved a huge nuclear explosion by taking control of the control room.



In The China Syndrome, Bridges portrays the capitalist mindset of the nuclear energy companies and government and their greed for wealth and power which leads to the devastation of the environment and humanity. The film begins with a belly dance announcement by reporter Kimberly Wells. The mindset of broadcasters, whose only concern since the beginning of the television era has been to get high ratings, is reflected by one of the press coordinators stating, "That is the stuff I want to see, that’s great. Our rating has been gone half a point since we put her on the show. " (0:03:36), which reveals the greed the media has for ratings and money while implying how the government could run the media and disguise the public with its power. Furthermore, it is revealed that the illegal footage of the accident in the control room made for the news at the request of Bill Gibson, the public relations manager of the energy company, will be archived, that is, there will be no news at all. Risking their lives to shoot, the crew is blocked as making profit outweighs the publication of the truth, failing to inform the public of the danger they face from the nuclear power plant. 


In the investigation of the nuclear power plant, the company is acquitted. The news director agrees with the nuclear power company to cover up the incident and the energy company, which applies for a new nuclear power plant license to increase its profit, tries all means to prevent the safety issue of nuclear power plants from being discussed which demonstrates how corrupt the company is. When Jack finds the leak that caused the accident at the nuclear power plant and demands new X-rays of the welds at the plant after realizing that they have been falsified and reports it to control manager Hermann, it is met with indifference. There is no time to stop the power plant and fix the technical malfunction as it will cause the company to lose $15-20 million a day. Profit once again took precedence over public security and continues to endanger people’s lives. The corporate wants things to be covered up and they do not tend to admit that they have been letting the reactors be neglected for years because it is cheaper and it is something that does not affect the bottom line too much.  


Doubting the temporariness of the accident, Richard finds two nuclear experts and shows them the video which later becomes transparent that they have come very close to exploding the core and to the China Syndrome as the core can melt right down through the bottom of the plant. It is called “The China Syndrome” because the effect of a nuclear explosion can be so vast that it could affect the region all the way to China. The nuclear expert also adds that as the melting hits the groundwater, it sends out clouds of radioactivity, and “the number of people killed would depend on which way the wind is blown. The rendering area, the size of Pennsylvania, becomes permanently inhabitable. Not to mention cancer that would show up later” (1:02:01). The greed for wealth and power in the Ventana Nuclear Power Plant and the government officials becomes so corrupt that the lives and wellbeing of humans are not valued anymore as long as the companies have money and the economy is in good standing. After reporting the nuclear power plant incident and that the accident is caused by human error on the broadcast live, Jack is shot and killed by the secret police operation. To clear the company’s name, the company puts the blame on Jack by questioning his sanity, which shows the nuclear industry’s selfish capitalistic mindset. They are capable of doing everything to cover up the turmoil they create in the working areas for their own profit. Hiding the truth about nuclear power eventually causes the death of a person in the final which also reveals how baffled society is by the nuclear industry and its injustice towards the workers and people in the film. 

The China Syndrome is still relevant today as it portrays energy companies cutting corners and taking unacceptable risks not only to the safety of their employees but to the general public and the environment in search of short-term profits. With nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, the consequences of mistakes are so vast that anything but absolutely zero risk is too much risk and we certainly cannot trust the insurance of the energy industry or the politicians they buy who both benefit from keeping people in the dark. The death experienced in the movie is a typical indicator of the calamities that the greed of the nuclear industry has inflicted on humanity. The government distortions, frauds, and cover-up attempts are made so that nuclear power generation does not fall into disrepute, companies do not lose value in the stock market, and of course, millions of people are not the object of anger but this corruptness and nuclear accidents that occur due to human or mechanical errors and unpredictable situations endanger the life of humanity, which should not be ignored as humanity would not survive more nuclear explosions. 

                                                                                                      Bibliography

Bridges, James. The China Syndrome. Burbank, CA: Columbia TriStar Home Video, 1979.

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