English-Italian translations for meltdown

• fusione del nocciolo
  Poi il reattore in stile sindrome cinese, ossia Wall Street, ha subito una fusione del nocciolo e il sistema si è ritrovato improvvisamente pieno di titoli tossici e debiti radioattivi. Then the China Syndrome-like reactor that is Wall Street suffered a meltdown and the system was suddenly full of toxic securities and radioactive debt.

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