So I asked my son: "Do you know what the 'China Syndrome' is?"

[jtrockville]

I was reading about Fukushima, and gasped about the bad news. My son (19 yo) asked: "What happened?" I said something like: "They think the 'China Syndrome' may have happened at Fukushima. Do you know what the China Syndrome is?"

He replied....

Wait for it.....

"Um, I dunno. Having only 1 kid?"

Good guess, I suppose.

* sighs *

[KittyWampus]

1. pretty good answer.

[Odin2005]

2. Crazy hysterical fears about radiactive material going through the Earth.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Seeing as no one has any real clear idea as to where the core of #1 has ended up, exactly

you may want to hold off momentarily on calling stuff "crazy".

[Goblinmonger]

6. I think it's in my garage

right next to the freezer.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Cool!

I mean, Hot!

[Goblinmonger]

9. Yep, it is seriously melting my fudge bars.

And that's pissing me off.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. It's harmless.

Just like a banana. Radiation is good for you, even.

[flamingdem]

34. Remember the movie "The Blob"? It was a premonition (shudder) nt

[jtrockville]

14. Good point, Warren DeMontague. Does anyone know if

the containment vessle at #1 is cracked? Can it even hold water?

[Warren DeMontague]

23. I think the water's not staying in the core containment. The larger concrete structure with the

suppression torus underneath, I think it's still unknown.

They didn't even know they'd had this level of meltdown situation until they got someone into the #1 bldg, AFAIK. From what I understand, they still don't know exactly where the core ended up, but they don't think all of it is in the metal inner containment structure anymore.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/13/fukushima-reactor-meltdown-flooding-warning

[jtrockville]

31. Thanks for the link. Very informative.

[Odin2005]

19. It certainly hasn't gone through the earth and come out the other end.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Like I said. The name to the contrary, no one has EVER suggested that's what it would do.

Did you ever see the movie "The China Syndrome"? In the scene where they explain the term, they specifically say that's not what would happen. The idea is that it could melt down until it hits groundwater.

[Odin2005]

22. Doh, my bad.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. No worries. When this happened, I netflix'ed that movie and watched it again.

It had probably been 30 years since I saw it, and I didn't remember much.

[Chris_Texas]

41. Thank you.

[sufrommich]

3. That is a pretty good guess. nt

[Goblinmonger]

5. He hadn't heard a hysterical theory nor the crappy movie made about it?

Shocking.

Ask him if he knows that Soylent Green is people.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. Given that Fukushima is turning out to be a clusterfuck of enormous proportions

I think it's pretty funny that anyone is still bleating about 'hysterical' anti-nuclear stuff. Why don't you ask when the people in the evacuation zone are going to get to go home?

[Goblinmonger]

12. I'm not arguing that this isn't a clusterfuck

and that there aren't going to be SERIOUS ramifications to this. But the whole "melt through the earth and come out the other side" business is pretty silly.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. Even IN the movie "the China Syndrome" they explained that's not what it means.

The idea is that it could melt down until it hits something like groundwater. No one ever suggested it would REALLY melt through 'to China'.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. The film is a good film. Nominated for Best Picture and Palm d'Or

Jack Lemon won at Cannes he and Fonda both nominated for Oscars, they both won BAFTAS, Screenplay won the WGA award and was nominated for the others. So the industry that judges films as films does not agree with the 'crappy movie' bit.

[Goblinmonger]

26. And Forrest Gump beat Shawshank and Pulp Fiction for Best Picture. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

27. Which proves that my pants are like a box of chocolates

Oh, sorry, that's "Foreskin Gump"

[XemaSab]

7. I suppose for them it would be Brazil Syndrome

:P

[Warren DeMontague]

25. AKA "Brazilian Blowout"?

:spank:

[kentauros]

15. I suppose he would have known the answer

if you had shown him the classic movie, too, at some point in his life ;)

However, I do understand that most folks under age-30 either have not seen most of the movies I watched on afternoon TV growing up (mostly black & white stuff, now seen on TCM), or they actively avoid anything not color, and not with special effects older than year-2000 (even that's pushing it for some of them...)

[jtrockville]

16. I've never even seen it myself. We just made plans to watch it together.

[kentauros]

17. I thought it was a good movie, suspenseful.

And Jack Lemon was great at everything he did :D

[Taverner]

18. What's the China Syndrome? A bad name for a real problem

No it won't bore a hole all the way to China

But it will hit the water table, go 'kabloey!' and release toxic radiation into the atmosphere while simultaneously poisoning the water table for miles.

Ah, but that's nothing to worry about. We need more Nukes to stop global warming, don'tchya know!

Yay Blue Dog Logic!

[barbtries]

28. lol

my son turns 19 today; i think i'll bring it up over dinner.

[jtrockville]

33. Happy Birthday to him. Let us know what he says.

[barbtries]

37. i asked the question

he said no, and so did his 27-year-old brother. but it opened up a conversation and we talked about Japan for a while so it's all good. i also told them about the movie and how good it is.

[jtrockville]

38. Interesting. Thanks.

[Matariki]

29. Why are you sighing?

Because your son never heard of a term from your own childhood?

[jtrockville]

32. He knows plenty of stuff from my generation.

And plenty of stuff from prior generations too.

"Duck and Cover", for example.

[Matariki]

36. Oh man - "duck and cover"

I remember THAT! That was horrid, wasn't it? I remember having to do that in kindergarten. Talk about some creepy propaganda and pysops.

[jtrockville]

39. Horrid indeed. Not sure where he stumbled across that.

Thinking back... most of the schools I went to had fallout shelters. Haven't seen one of those in decades. I wonder if they're still around.

[Ian David]

30. China Syndrome is on Encore right now. n/t

[plcdude]

35. Here's a little

fun thing speaking of the China Syndrome http://www.freemaptools.com/tunnel-to-other-side-of-the-earth.htm

[jtrockville]

40. Cool tool. I like it.

[Warren DeMontague]

42. Neat.

'Course, if you're in the continental US, your answer is pretty much "The Indian Ocean"