A Southerner Had Only 90 Seconds to Stop North America’s First Nuclear Reactor Accident
Young Lt. Jimmy Carter Had Guts
Young Lt. Jimmy Carter Had Guts
(No matter what you think of Carter as GA Governor and as Prez, at least once he showed he had the right stuff. - DD)
(Clever Journeys) - In 1980, I interviewed a man who showed that real courage does not necessarily need attention. Sometimes it only needs ninety seconds in the dark. You need the conviction to spend those seconds serving something greater than yourself.
Long before the Oval Office, he volunteered for one of the most dangerous jobs of his life. This was before the Nobel Peace Prize and before he became known around the world for humanitarian work.
He was just 28 years old.
December 12, 1952. Chalk River, Ontario, Canada.
Inside the National Research Experimental reactor facility, something had gone terribly wrong. A series of operator mistakes and mechanical failures caused a serious accident and partial meltdown in the reactor core. Fuel rods were damaged, hydrogen gas exploded, and radioactive water flooded the basement of the reactor building.
It was North America’s first major nuclear accident. About one million gallons of radioactive water poured into the basement.
Radiation levels inside the building were extremely dangerous. Anyone who entered could stay only a very short time before receiving a serious dose.
The Canadian government needed help right away, so they turned to the United States Navy’s nuclear program. Rickover chose a team of young officers to go to Canada and help control the disaster.
One of them was Lieutenant James Earl Carter Jr., a twenty-eight-year-old nuclear engineer from Plains…