The story
From China + syndrome. Popularized via the 1979 disaster thriller film The China Syndrome.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
China syndrome
Chi·na syn·dromeToday it means: A hypothetical kind of catastrophic failure in which a nuclear reactor melts through the floor of its containment system and (if on land) penetrates the Earth's surface, continuing downward as if (from a Western Hemispheric point of view) traveling through the planet toward China. Full definition →