China syndrome

Meaning

1. A hypothetical kind of catastrophic failure in which a nuclear reactor melts through the floor of its containment system and penetrates the Earth's surface, continuing downward as if (from a Western Hemispheric point of view) traveling through the planet toward China.
2. A behavior, policy, or situation characteristic of or involving China; an actual or potential catastrophe, especially one involving China.
3. A rare disease, first characterized in the early 1990s, which resembles polio but which has somewhat different characteristics and occurs in persons vaccinated for polio.

Synonyms

policy

Translations

Politik

China-Syndrom

πολιτική

politique

syndrome chinois

politica

politica gestionale

sindrome cinese

política

política

Hyphenated as

Chi‧na‧syn‧drome

Etymology

Popularized via the 1979 disaster thriller film The China Syndrome.