Jimmy Carter Hailed in Canada for 1952 Nuclear Rescue
Jimmy Carter Hailed in Canada for 1952 Nuclear Rescue
HALIFAX, CANADA —
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is being hailed as a national hero in Canada after publication of an article about an obscure 1952 incident in which a Carter-led team helped prevent the world’s first nuclear accident from becoming a much worse disaster.
A recounting of the incident appeared this month on the Facebook page of the Historical Society of Ottawa and quickly went viral across Canada. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., the country’s national broadcaster, followed up with its own version soon after.
“The Historical Society of Ottawa has been telling the great stories of the Ottawa area’s past for over 123 years,” the society’s outreach officer, Ben Weiss, told VOA. “No story, however, has resonated like this one.
“I had learned of this amazing story reading Jimmy Carter’s memoirs many years ago. Yet I had no idea my post would go viral as it did. Almost 1 million views on Facebook so far — and that many again reshared on Twitter.”
Carter, a young U.S. Navy lieutenant in 1952, was in in nearby Schenectady, New York, training to work aboard America’s first nuclear submarine at the time of the accident at a reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, just 180 km from Ottawa, the Canadian capital.
[link:https://www.voanews.com/a/jimmy-carter-hailed-in-canada-for-1952-nuclear-rescue-/6373070.html|
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Jimmy Carter, USN -- Nuclear Hero
A very brave officer of the United States Navy, Lt. James Earle Carter, Jr., personally led the effort to contain a reactor meltdown.
Jimmy Carter and Fukushima
Apr 2nd 2011, 11:42 by K.N.C. | TOKYO
The Economist
EXCERPT...
The fear and danger is beyond comprehension for most people, and in particular the political leaders who must order men in to danger. But interestingly, it is not unfamiliar to former American president Jimmy Carter. Nearly half a century ago, as a young naval officer, he led a 23-man team to dismantle a reactor that, like Fukushima, had partially melted down.
The reactor in Chalk River, Canada, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) from Ottawa, was used to enrich plutonium for America's atomic bombs. On December 12th 1952 it exploded, flooding the reactor building’s basement with millions of litres of radioactive water. Lieutenant Carter, a nuclear specialist on the Seawolf submarine programme, and his men were among the few people with the security clearance to enter a reactor. From Schenectady, New York, they rode the train up and got straight to work.
"The radiation intensity meant that each person could spend only about ninety seconds at the hot core location," wrote Mr Carter in "Why Not the Best?", an autobiography published in 1975 when he was campaigning for the presidency.
The team built an exact replica of the reactor on a nearby tennis court, and had cameras monitor the actual damage in the reactor's core. "When it was our time to work, a team of three of us practised several times on the mock-up, to be sure we had the correct tools and knew exactly how to use them. Finally, outfitted with white protective clothes, we descended into the reactor and worked frantically for our allotted time," he wrote. "Each time our men managed to remove a bolt or fitting from the core, the equivalent piece was removed on the mock-up."
CONTINUED...
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/04/japans_nuclear_clean-up
For some reason, this doesn’t get mentioned much on the tee vee or newspaper or history books or anywhere that tells us Carter was a failure.
I was so proud to do volunteer work for his 1976 Campaign - my first official one.
My parents got hand written and signed letters from him for their work on behalf of his Panama Canal effort.
He has spread Democracy and love throughout the whole World.
President Carter is a True Christian - he practices what they preach.
I love the man with all my heart.
The Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) transits the Hood Canal.
