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Jimmy Carter Prevented Canadian Nuclear Reactor Disaster in 1952


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The world was in the grip of the Cold War in 1952 when a nuclear reactor began melting down.

That reactor, located at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, had suffered an explosion on Dec. 12. Radioactive material had escaped into the atmosphere, and millions of gallons of radioactive water flooded into the reactor’s basement. Thankfully, no one was injured, but the Canadians needed help to disassemble the reactor’s damaged core.

The United States sent 28-year-old Jimmy Carter.

In 1952, Carter was selected to join an elite team to help develop the Navy’s first nuclear submarines. Once he had trained his crew and the submarine was constructed, Carter was to be the commanding officer of the USS Seawolf.

Then the partial meltdown happened, and Lt. Carter was one of the few people on the planet authorized to go inside a nuclear reactor.
 

Carter and his two dozen men were sent to Canada to help, along with other Canadian and American service members. Because of the intensity of radiation, a human could spend only 90 seconds in the damaged core, even while wearing protective gear. First, they constructed an exact duplicate of the reactor nearby. Then they practiced and practiced, dashing into the duplicate “to be sure we had the correct tools and knew exactly how to use them,” Carter wrote.

Each time one of his men managed to unscrew a bolt, the same bolt would be removed from the duplicate, and the next man would prep for the next step. Eventually, it was Carter’s turn. He was in a team of three. “Outfitted with white protective clothes, we descended into the reactor and worked frantically for our allotted time,” he wrote. In one minute and 29 seconds, Carter had absorbed the maximum amount of radiation a human can withstand in a year. The mission was successful. The damaged core was removed. Within two years, it had been rebuilt and was back up and running. For several months afterward, Carter and his crew submitted fecal and urine samples to test for radioactivity.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/02/20/jimmy-carter-nuclear-reactor-navy/

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15 minutes ago, Rebound said:

The world was in the grip of the Cold War in 1952 when a nuclear reactor began melting down.

That reactor, located at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, had suffered an explosion on Dec. 12. Radioactive material had escaped into the atmosphere, and millions of gallons of radioactive water flooded into the reactor’s basement. Thankfully, no one was injured, but the Canadians needed help to disassemble the reactor’s damaged core.

The United States sent 28-year-old Jimmy Carter.

In 1952, Carter was selected to join an elite team to help develop the Navy’s first nuclear submarines. Once he had trained his crew and the submarine was constructed, Carter was to be the commanding officer of the USS Seawolf.

Then the partial meltdown happened, and Lt. Carter was one of the few people on the planet authorized to go inside a nuclear reactor.
 

Carter and his two dozen men were sent to Canada to help, along with other Canadian and American service members. Because of the intensity of radiation, a human could spend only 90 seconds in the damaged core, even while wearing protective gear. First, they constructed an exact duplicate of the reactor nearby. Then they practiced and practiced, dashing into the duplicate “to be sure we had the correct tools and knew exactly how to use them,” Carter wrote.

Each time one of his men managed to unscrew a bolt, the same bolt would be removed from the duplicate, and the next man would prep for the next step. Eventually, it was Carter’s turn. He was in a team of three. “Outfitted with white protective clothes, we descended into the reactor and worked frantically for our allotted time,” he wrote. In one minute and 29 seconds, Carter had absorbed the maximum amount of radiation a human can withstand in a year. The mission was successful. The damaged core was removed. Within two years, it had been rebuilt and was back up and running. For several months afterward, Carter and his crew submitted fecal and urine samples to test for radioactivity.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/02/20/jimmy-carter-nuclear-reactor-navy/

Agreed, as a Navy soldier, Carter did the right thing. 

As President, Carter empowered Islamofascism, empowered the SOVIET UNION to march into Afghanistan, caused gasoline prices to skyrocket and further fueled INFLATION.

And because of KKKlinton, Obama, and  Unelected Joe, we can no longer say Carter was the worst president of all time.

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4 hours ago, Contrarian said:

Thanks for sharing about Jimmy Carter. Even though I consider him a flawed man, he was allowed to make mistakes in my average Joe's book from Canada. 

He is not a Dick Cheney to run away from the war and then retire as a wealthy man somewhere watching Scooby-Doo with a new heart. 

He never retired. Even in his 90’s, he built homes for people with his bare hands. 

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Carter was a fundamentally good person and deeply invested in serving others more than serving himself. The economic circumstances pretty much ate his presidency alive, which is a shame. Would have been nice to see how he could have appealed to our better angels to make change.

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2 hours ago, Rebound said:

I don’t know what reason10 had to say about the soon-to-be-deceased, but it was most likely rude and disrespectful. 

Most certainly full of lies. Naval officers are NOT "soldiers."

And Carter is certainly NOT to blame for the Soviets invading Afghanistan, nor OPEC hiking gas prices.

Those principals are solely responsible for THEIR actions.

His worst mistake was his humanitarian gesture of allowing a long time ally of the US (the Shah) into the US for medical treatment, which caused hatred and retaliation against him by Iranians. Of course Jimmy had nothing to do with the antipathy against Shaw Reza Pahlavi who was installed by a CIA engineered coup against a democratically elected leader.

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23 hours ago, Rebound said:

I don’t know what reason10 had to say about the soon-to-be-deceased, but it was most likely rude and disrespectful. 

You left wing goose steppers said a lot WORSE about President Ronald Reagan, (the greatest president in history), so maybe a little STFU would be in order.

Carter was easily the WORST president of the 20th Century. The facts don't change just because taxpayer dollars have extended his traitorous life to the ripe old age of 98. A person about to assume room temperature does NOT erase the damage he did to this country.

I wonder if you would say the same about your mentor ADOLF HITLER before he died.

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Most certainly full of lies. Naval officers are NOT "soldiers."

Tell a Naval officer that he/she is not a soldier and you're liable to get a face full of fists.

And Carter is certainly NOT to blame for the Soviets invading Afghanistan, nor OPEC hiking gas prices.

Yes he is. His WEAKNESS on the world state emboldened the Soviet Union.

Oh, and his WINDFALL PROFITS TAX single handedly got gasoline up to a dollar a gallon for the first time in history.

His worst mistake was his humanitarian gesture of allowing a long time ally of the US (the Shah) into the US for medical treatment, which caused hatred and retaliation against him by Iranians. Of course Jimmy had nothing to do with the antipathy against Shaw Reza Pahlavi who was installed by a CIA engineered coup against a democratically elected leader.

Nope. His WORST mistake was not deploying the military the SECOND those hostages were taken, with a threat that the planes are on the way and if they are not released, Teheran will be leveled. I guarantee you those rag heads would have shit themselves and put the hostages on transportation out of there.

Or did it seem strange to you that incoming President Reagan used his Executive Order to decontrol domestic oil, and THE PRICE OF GASOLINE PLUMMETED AT THE PUMP FOR THE NEXT EIGHT YEARS?

(You're a child. Obviously you weren't around when that happened. I was. I saw it. My job at the time required a lot of travel and the policies of liberals Nixon/Ford/Carter caused gasoline prices to triple.)

 

 

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22 hours ago, Hodad said:

Carter was a fundamentally good person and deeply invested in serving others more than serving himself. The economic circumstances pretty much ate his presidency alive, which is a shame. Would have been nice to see how he could have appealed to our better angels to make change.

He was about as good as Adolf Hitler. And if you compare the two, you'd probably find that DONALD TRUMP contributed more to charity that Carter.

Then again, Trump was a better president for that matter. Gave us LOW gasoline prices, almost zero inflation, an expanded economy, and peace in the Middle East.

 

There is NO Democrat president IN HISTORY with that positive a tract record. Mostly Democrats tank economies, cause everything to cost more, send soldiers into battle and explode the national debt.

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4 hours ago, reason10 said:

You left wing goose steppers said a lot WORSE about President Ronald Reagan, (the greatest president in history), so maybe a little STFU would be in order.

Carter was easily the WORST president of the 20th Century. The facts don't change just because taxpayer dollars have extended his traitorous life to the ripe old age of 98. A person about to assume room temperature does NOT erase the damage he did to this country.

I wonder if you would say the same about your mentor ADOLF HITLER before he died.

Your ^OPINIONS are NOT "facts."

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