Back in 1952, there was a partial meltdown of a research reactor in Chalk River, Ontario. It was the first such accident of its kind anywhere in the world. I had read about it in the past, but until this week I didn't know that former US President Jimmy Carter was involved in the cleanup.
Carter was called in to lead the cleanup because of his experience building the nuclear propulsion system for the Sea Wolf submarine. He described himself as pretty excited to be leading the team responsible for the operation, as well as being one of the few authorized to go into the nuclear power plant.
The team had an exact replica of the reactor set up on a nearby tennis court to help their work. Due to the small amount of time they were able to spend in the reactor, every second counted.
"I had only seconds that I could be in the reactor myself. We all went out on the tennis court, and they had an exact duplicate of the reactor on the tennis court. We would run out there with our wrenches and we'd check off so many bolts and nuts and they'd put them back on," he wrote in his book, Why Not the Best?
Given the tradition exposure he experienced, I'm surprised he is still with us.
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