English-German translations for meltdown

• Kernschmelze die
  Jedes Kind in Japan weiß, wie die Folgen einer Kernschmelze aussehen. Every child in Japan is aware of the consequences of nuclear meltdown.
  Und wenn wir alle Sicherheit wollen, dann ist es richtig, sich immer dafür einzusetzen, und nicht erst, wenn in drei Reaktoren eine Kernschmelze stattgefunden hat. If we all want safety, then the right thing to do is to show a permanent commitment to safety and not just when there has been a core meltdown in three reactors.
  Wir müssen viel ehrlicher darüber reden, dass wir auch in der Europäischen Union sehr oft schon in Anlagen, die wir betreiben, mit Situationen kurz vor einer Kernschmelze konfrontiert waren. We must be much more honest and should admit that we in the European Union have frequently been confronted with situations verging on nuclear meltdown in the plants that we operate.

Definition of meltdown

• Severe overheating of the core of a nuclear reactor resulting in the core melting and radiation escaping
• A situation being likened to a nuclear meltdown; a crisis
• A tantrum

Examples

• Four years have passed since the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, but the grim legacy of the Soviet catastrophe is still unfolding. [https://web.archive.org/web/20041130094534/http://www.time.com/time/daily/chernobyl/chernobyl.index.html]
• Computer engineers were at a loss last night to explain why the Government had been hit by arguably the worst electronic meltdown in the history of Whitehall. [https://web.archive.org/web/20041209011615/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=587262]

Related words

• melt
• cameltoe
• smelt
• smelting
• meltwater
• melting
• melton
• smelter
• unmelted