Tuesday, March 27, 2007

28 years ago today...

On March 28th 1979, the USA narrowly avoided an accident at its Three Mile Island nuclear power station that would have made Chernobyl look tame by comparison. A combination of equipment failure and human incompetence sent the reactor into partial meltdown and for days the authorities fought to control the situation.

Weirdly, only a few days earlier a film was released that virtually predicted the Three Mile Island Incident. The China Syndrome, starring Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas is one of the most underrated films of the 1970s - a relic of the days when Hollywood wasn't afraid to make political thrillers - and beyond the flares, dodgy hair and funky soundtrack, the film is particularly relevant today.

The message of the China Syndrome is, in a nutshell, don't allow something as potentially lethal as nuclear power to be controlled by private enterprise. If you do, then corners will be cut and public health will be endangered. With a new generation of nuclear power stations on the agenda, we need a modern-day version of this film to scare the hell out of everyone.

Is this fahrenheit or celsius?
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4 comments:

  1. Ms Baroque8:50 pm

    linked! Thanks for the tip.

    http://baroqueinhackney.blogspot.com/2007/03/elegantly-dressed-nuclear.html

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  2. Ms Baroque8:50 pm

    Sorry. Stupid link. But the post is easy to find.

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  3. Steerforth9:02 pm

    By the way, for anyone who's read 'Cloud Atlas', I'd be very surprised if David Mitchell hasn't seen this film.

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  4. Mummalea9:22 am

    I still struggle with the fact that Jane Fonda, for all her over-exerising, obsessive under-eating, and eerie plastic surgery is taken seriously by middle America...whereas the Bartman rocks and what she needs to do now is take a course in doughnutandbeerology from my man Homer - that would teach her about the finer things in life!

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