With a title referencing a fantastical worst case scenario whereby malfunctioning nuclear components melt through the earth all the way to China, conspiracy thriller The China Syndrome encapsulates both the promise and threat of nuclear energy. Jane Fonda’s television reporter Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) and her cameraman (Michael Douglas) witness a near-disastrous accident during a visit to a nuclear plant, and secretly film footage of the incident. Jack Lemmon is the shift supervisor who realises that the plant is unsafe, and attempts to raise the alarm.

Released just twelve days after the partial meltdown of the reactor core at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania, the film plays on our enduring fears of a nuclear disaster; not through an atom bomb attack launched by a rogue nation, but due to compromised safety at a domestic nuclear power station, initiated and covered up by big business.