That time Jimmy Carter walked into a nuclear reactor August 27, 2015 by Fred Clark
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2015/08/27/that-time-jimmy-carter-walked-into-a-nuclear-reactor/...But the really badass story involving Jimmy Carter dates back to 1952, before he entered politics. Back then he was Lt. James Earl Carter, a nuclear specialist in the U.S. Navys Seawolf program working in upstate New York.
In December 1952, there was an explosion in the reactor of the Chalk River nuclear site in Ontario. The reactor was in partial meltdown and it was flooded with radioactive water. This was Very Bad. Even worse, it was going to have to be dismantled and shut down by hand. Basically, somebody was going to have to make like Spock at the end of Wrath of Khan and walk into a melting-down nuclear reactor. That somebody would have to be, like Spock, both brave enough to face deadly radiation and smart enough to understand how a nuclear reactor works. Thats how the job fell to Lt. Carter and his team of 22 other Navy specialists.
Heres where the story turns into something like an epic Hollywood heist movie. The radiation level was such that, even with the best 1950s-era protective gear, no one could enter Chalk River for more than 90 seconds at a time. So it would have to be like a relay race wade in, get as much done as possible in 89 seconds, then get out of there while the next guy in line took his turn. The team built a replica of the whole facility on an Ontario tennis court every hallway and door, every nut and bolt and screw and hatch. And they practiced. Thats what badass engineers do. Heres how Carter summarized this in a 1975 campaign biography:
For several months afterwards, we saved our feces and urine to have them monitored for radioactivity. We had absorbed a years maximum allowance of radiation in one minute and twenty-nine seconds. There were no apparent after-effects from this exposure just a lot of doubtful jokes among ourselves about death versus sterility.
So Lt. Carter and the rest of his team ran through a radioactive flood with hand-tools and stopwatches and carried out an incredibly technical feat of nuclear engineering in 89-second intervals fully expecting that it would mean theyd all soon be dead from some horrible form of radiation sickness. And they did it. They shut down the reactor and saved the day.
Jimmy Carter is a quiet, gentle man who teaches Sunday school. But dont forget that hes also a quiet, gentle, Sunday-school teaching badass.
rateyes
(17,438 posts)tblue37
(65,273 posts)CentralMass
(15,265 posts)blondie58
(2,570 posts)I had never heard this before. I always knew what a great guy he was but this is amazing! Always loved this guy.
MADem
(135,425 posts)We simply don't know.
I hope he beats it. He deserves many more years with us, even though we might not be worthy of him.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)I think some sort of cancer would have showed up earlier if it was from that exposure. That was over 60 years ago.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)onethatcares
(16,165 posts)a movie actor to be their badass.
I have the greatest respect for President Carter. He's a real man.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)I'm gonna miss him...the whole country is going to miss his example... too many deaths right now...
President Carter lost all his family due to pancreatic cancer....it probably didn't help to add radiation to a problematic gene pool.
lastlib
(23,197 posts)MiniMe
(21,714 posts)tried to find it, but it is part of the show on season 4 with Richard Benjamin hosting.
Snerd
(16 posts)The Incredible Growing President