The China Syndrome

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Lobby card for The China Syndrome (1979) showing Jack Lemmon speaking into a microphone held by Jane Fonda, with Michael Douglas standing between them and a film camera behind.

The China Syndrome

film by Bridges [1979]

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July 16, 2026

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Lobby card for The China Syndrome (1979) showing Jack Lemmon speaking into a microphone held by Jane Fonda, with Michael Douglas standing between them and a film camera behind. — The China Syndrome (From left) Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, and Jane Fonda pictured on a lobby card for The China Syndrome (1979), directed and cowritten by James Bridges.

The term "China Syndrome" refers to a hypothetical meltdown scenario in a nuclear reactor where the molten core could theoretically sink through the Earth's crust, reaching China. This term gained prominence around 1970.1

The 1979 film The China Syndrome is a thriller that dramatizes the dangers of nuclear power, focusing on a near-meltdown incident at a power plant and the subsequent cover-up. The film's release coincided with the real-life Three Mile Island accident, which significantly heightened public awareness and concern regarding nuclear safety. This event led to a halt in new reactor approvals in the United States for decades.12

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James Bridges
However, it was the suspenseful The China Syndrome (1979) that became Bridges’s first breakout hit. Jane Fonda played a television reporter who stumbles onto a cover-up at a nuclear power plant that nearly suffered a meltdown, and Jack Lemmon portrayed the engineer who blows the whistle on his criminally negligent…
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However, it was the suspenseful The China Syndrome (1979) that became Bridges’s first breakout hit. Jane Fonda played a television reporter who stumbles onto a cover-up at a nuclear power plant that nearly suffered a meltdown, and Jack Lemmon portrayed the engineer who blows the whistle on his criminally negligent…
Read More

Michael Douglas
Noteworthy acting roles
Douglas coproduced and costarred in The China Syndrome (1979), a taut thriller set in a nuclear power plant that was ironically and fortuitously released the same week as the real-life nuclear crisis at Three Mile Island. He appeared with Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito in the highly successful action-adventure Romancing…
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Douglas coproduced and costarred in The China Syndrome (1979), a taut thriller set in a nuclear power plant that was ironically and fortuitously released the same week as the real-life nuclear crisis at Three Mile Island. He appeared with Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito in the highly successful action-adventure Romancing…
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Jane Fonda
(1971), Coming Home (1978), and The China Syndrome (1979). She received Academy Awards for best actress for her performances as a call girl in Klute and as the wife of a Vietnam War soldier in Coming Home. Fonda then joined Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin in Nine to Five
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(1971), Coming Home (1978), and The China Syndrome (1979). She received Academy Awards for best actress for her performances as a call girl in Klute and as the wife of a Vietnam War soldier in Coming Home. Fonda then joined Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin in Nine to Five
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Jack Lemmon
…garnered additional Oscar nominations for The China Syndrome (1979), Tribute (1980), and Missing (1982).
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…garnered additional Oscar nominations for The China Syndrome (1979), Tribute (1980), and Missing (1982).
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