Ever since the terrible sequence of events in Japan, I hear the word "meltdown" thrown about in all situations pertaining to the nuclear plant. Do you know exactly what the word means when you hear it on the news? Can a reporter somewhere in the U.S. bother to look it up and define it for the rest of us instead of repeating the same old word?
No, that would take work. I know this because the word isn't even in any of my (many) old print dictionaries.
For all of us who care, here's a definition, courtesy of yourdictionary.com:
"meltdown - A situation in which a rapid rise in the power level of a nuclear reactor, as from a defect in the cooling system, results in the melting of the fuel rods and the release of dangerous radiation and may cause the core to sink into the earth."
There, isn't that better?
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