reactor meltdown
Nuclear plant disaster
A reactor meltdown is the catastrophic failure of a nuclear reactor's cooling system, causing the fuel core to overheat and partially or fully liquefy.
The melting fuel can breach containment structures, releasing radioactive material into the environment.
Chernobyl and Fukushima are the most infamous examples.
The term extends figuratively to any spectacular institutional collapse: The company experienced a complete meltdown after the scandal broke.
- nuclearOf atomic energy
- nuclear plantFission-based power facility
- ChernobylSoviet nuclear disaster site
- FukushimaJapanese nuclear accident site
- radiationEnergy propagation through space
core · catastrophe · containment · explosion · fallout · evacuation · cooling · cooling system · uranium · plutonium · critical mass · overheating · disaster · breach · radiation leak · fuel rods · spent fuel · contamination
- ChernobylPripyat, exclusion zone, nuclear disaster, explosion, sarcophagus
- meltdownsfreak out, losing it, snapping, losing control, flipping out
- Among Usimpostor, crewmate, sus, vent, emergency meeting
- sci-fi tropesalien invasion, time travel, teleportation, first contact, robot uprising
- Nuclear Armsnuclear arms, nukes, atom bomb, nuclear warheads, hydrogen bombs
reactor, meltdown, react, melt, down, reaction, reactive, reactivity, reactions