Very, very little people know about how brave he was and how shitty the Republican style of politics is.
The first "atomic" accident happened at Chalk River, about 100 miles north of Toronto, 300 miles from Detroit in 1952.
The Manhattan Project was actually a joint US, UK and Canadian project to build the bomb. Of course the US was the major player, but London and Ottawa made major contributions. Almost as soon as the first chain reaction, there were two types of people doing nuclear - those making a bomb and those seeing if it can be used for energy. Even as the war progressed, the US Navy started working on miniaturizing nuclear plants to put on ships for power. In 1952, Chalk River went into crisis and was approaching meltdown. Ottawa called Washington, DC, and asked for help. the US turned to it's top man, Admiral Rykover, who sent his best guy: Lieutenant James Earl Carter of Plains, Georgia.
Carter dropped everything and flew to Chalk River, took command over the Canadians, and organized how to shut down the compromised reactor. Each man could only spend 130 seconds inside the still operating reactor hall. Once his plan was completed, Lt Carter then went INTO the failing nuclear reactor to inspect the work that had been done. And, like his men, he got a near lifetime amount of radiation (look at the pics earlier in this thread where his face is all red). Jump forward to 1979 when Three Mile Island trips off. The Republicans criticised him for not going to the site and added on to the whole "Carter's weak" theme ahead of the election.
What nobody knew was that he COULDN'T go near Three Mile Island because it might put him over the lifetime limit of exposure to radiation. For guys like the ones at Chalk River and Chernobyl and Fukushima, even an X-Ray could put them over the limit. Doctors try to prevent X-rays and the like to keep them below the limit so that if something serious happens to them medically then, and only then, will they use all the tools necessary. In other words, no routine dental X-rays for these guys. Let's say one of them gets injured in a car accident, with all the signs of a fracture, doctors won't give him an X-ray because he might need one in the future for a more serious issue.
Later on that year, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran, Iran, taking nearly 100 people hostage. At the same time, four or five US embassy staff appeared at the front gate of the Canadian embassy housing, desperate for protection. (if you know the movie Argo, you only know part of the story). Ask yourself if the Canadians remembered Chalk River and the name "Jimmy Carter". They did a lot to get those embassy people out.
If Chalk River had melted down, say goodbye to Ottawa, say goodbye to Michigan, to Pennsylania and New York State...