Three Mile Island Accident - The China Syndrome

The accident at the plant occurred twelve days after the release of the movie The China Syndrome. The film features Jack Lemmon as a supervisor at a nuclear plant who uncovers evidence of a potential nuclear catastrophe and Jane Fonda as a television news reporter at a California television station. In the film, a major nuclear plant crisis takes place while Fonda's character and her cameraman (Michael Douglas) are at the plant producing a series on nuclear power. Fonda and Lemmon proceed to raise awareness regarding the unsafe conditions at the plant.

After the release of the film, Fonda began lobbying against nuclear power. In an attempt to counter her efforts, Edward Teller, a nuclear physicist and long-time government science adviser nicknamed the "father of the hydrogen bomb", personally lobbied in favor of nuclear power.