The China Syndrome - Plot

Plot

While visiting the Ventana nuclear power plant outside Los Angeles, television news reporter Kimberly Wells (Fonda), her maverick camerman Richard Adams (Douglas) and their soundman Hector Salas witness the plant going through an emergency shutdown (SCRAM). Shift Supervisor Jack Godell (Lemmon) notices an unusual vibration while grabbing his cup of coffee which he had set down; then he finds that a gauge is misreading and that the coolant is dangerously low (he thought it was overflowing). The crew manages to bring the reactor under control.

Richard surreptitiously films the incident, despite being requested to not film the control room for security purposes. When he shows the film to experts, they realize that the plant came close to the China Syndrome in which the core would have melted down into the earth, hitting groundwater and contaminating the surrounding area with radioactive steam.

During an inspection of the plant before it's brought back online, a technician discovers a small puddle of radioactive water that has apparently leaked from a pump. Godell pushes to delay restarting the plant, but the plant superintendent denies his request and appears willing to let nothing come in the way of the scheduled restart of the plant. Godell investigates further and uncovers evidence that radiographs of welds on the leaking pump have been falsified (shot at the same angle). He believes that the plant is unsafe and could be severely damaged if another full-power SCRAM occurs. He tries to bring the evidence to plant manager Herman DeYoung, who brushes Godell off as paranoid and states that new radiographs would cost at least $20 million. Godell confronts D.B. Royce, an employee of Foster-Sullivan, the construction company who built the plant, as it was Royce who signed off on the welding radiographs. When Godell threatens to go to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Royce threatens him and a pair of goons from Foster-Sullivan park outside his house.

Kimberly and Richard confront Godell at his home with what they know, at which point, the engineer voices his concern about the vibration he felt during the SCRAM and his anger about the false radiographs. Kimberly and Richard ask Godell if he'll come clean at NRC hearings, being held at Point Conception, where Foster-Sullivan is looking to build another nuclear plant. Godell tells them about the threat on his life, but agrees to get them, through Hector, the false radiographs to take to the hearings.

Following the exchange though, Hector is run off the road by company men and the radiographs are taken. Godell leaves for the hearings but is chased by the goons out his house. He escapes by taking refuge in the plant.

To his dismay, Godell finds that the reactor is being brought up to full power. He grabs a gun from a security guard, forces everyone out, including his best friend and co-worker Ted Spindler (Brimley), and demands to be interviewed on live television by Kimberly. Plant management agrees to the interview, which buys them time as they try to regain control of the plant.

Minutes into the broadcast, plant technicians deliberately cause a SCRAM so they can retake the control room (Ted was opposed to the SCRAM due to Godell's concerns about safety). While Godell is distracted by the SCRAM alarms a SWAT team forces its way into the control room. The television cable is cut and a panicky Godell is shot by the police, but before he dies he feels the unusual vibration again. The resulting SCRAM is only brought under control by the plant's automatic systems. True to Godell's predictions, the plant suffers significant damage as the pump malfunctions.

Plant officials try to paint Godell as emotionally disturbed, but Ted states that Godell would not have taken such drastic steps had there not been something wrong. The film ends with a tearful Kimberly concluding her report as the reporter's live signal abruptly cuts to color bars.