The large size of nuclear power plants ordered during the late 1960s raised new safety questions and created fears of a severe reactor accident that would send large quantities of radiation into the environment. In the early 1970s a contentious controversy over the performance of emergency core cooling systems in nuclear power plants, designed to prevent a core meltdown that could lead to the China Syndrome, was discussed in the popular media and in technical journals.[2] In 1971, nuclear physicist Ralph Lapp used the term "China syndrome" to describe the burn-through of the reactor vessel, the penetration of the concrete below it, and the emergence of a mass of hot fuel into the soil below the reactor. He based his statements on the report of a task force of nuclear physicists headed by Dr. W.K. Ergen, published in 1967.[3] The dangers of such a hypothetical accident were popularized by the 1979 film, The China Syndrome. The name refers to the idea of the nuclear material burning a hole from the United States to 'the other side of the world', i.e., China.[4]