This from a 2011 story by a Canadian journalist.

The Georgian's name? James Earl Carter, the 39th president of the United States. Almost 60 years ago, and then a young U.S. Naval officer working at the dawn of the nuclear age with the U.S. atomic submarine program, Carter was physically lowered into a damaged nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, Canada, and exposed to levels of radiation unthinkable today after an accident.

"We were fairly well instructed then on what nuclear power was, but for about six months after that I had radioactivity in my urine," President Carter, now 86, told me during an interview for my new book in Plains in 2008. "They let us get probably a thousand times more radiation than they would now. It was in the early stages and they didn't know."

Maybe we've heard wrong all along, and the glow actually preserves the human body!

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mrbigstuff
Maybe we've heard wrong all along, and the glow actually preserves the human body!

lol. I've heard him talk about this before. I think there's even an SNL skit that riffs on it.

I wonder that too. He's a brave dude.

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mrbigstuff
Maybe we've heard wrong all along, and the glow actually preserves the human body!

New radiation is much more toxic.

That old fashioned radiation just makes you a little bigger.

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President Carter was also instrumental when he dealt with the Three Mile Island accident

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vision63

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mrbigstuff
Maybe we've heard wrong all along, and the glow actually preserves the human body!

lol. I've heard him talk about this before. I think there's even an SNL skit that riffs on it.

I wonder that too. He's a brave dude.

There was. IIRC, the radiation caused Jimmy and the cleaning lady to grow significantly larger. Can't find the video anywhere though.

Who was the guy with Oppenhiemer who let the rad beam go through his skull and died?

At least he didn't make the same kind of mistake that Louis Slotin did.

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chopper
Who was the guy with Oppenhiemer who let the rad beam go through his skull and died?

It was John Cusack in the movie.

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vision63

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chopper
Who was the guy with Oppenhiemer who let the rad beam go through his skull and died?

It was John Cusack in the movie.

Different accident... that was a "dramatized" retelling of the Demon Core accident.
I remember the guy who had a particle accelerator bisect his head with a beam, but, I think he was Russian, and didn't die. Interesting bald spot, though.
I may be conflating two more more cases myself, though.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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Eureka, CA

The Russian who survived the particle accelerator accident was Anatoli Bugorski Link

I don’t understand how he survived a lethal radiation dose.

I saw this accident depicted in a tv show, but didn’t know he survived.

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Forrest
The Russian who survived the particle accelerator accident was Anatoli Bugorski Link

I don’t understand how he survived a lethal radiation dose.

I saw this accident depicted in a tv show, but didn’t know he survived.

HE'S STILL ALIVE!!!

I know this is a controversial topic, and people have lost their jobs and academic positions for pointing out some research that indicates this, but....
It appears that "Radiation" and "radiation exposure" is more complicated than we thought. Yes, high SUSTAINED doses do seem to cause cancer. But, even fairly "high" one-time doses seem to cause a LOT less cancer than we thought. In one study, it even appeared to have a negative effect on the cancer rate in the study group.

An extended study of thyroid cancer around Chernobyl showed that thyroid cancer rates had actually been higher than normal in the entire region since before the plant had been built, much less blew up. This mitigated SOME of the early reported thyroid cancer rates (a high percentage weren't caused by Chernobyl... they only LOOKED for thyroid cancers AFTER Chernobyl).

Radiation exposure is more complicated than we thought.

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Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

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Paul F.
I know this is a controversial topic, and people have lost their jobs and academic positions for pointing out some research that indicates this, but....
It appears that "Radiation" and "radiation exposure" is more complicated than we thought...

In the case of Anatoli Bugorski, it was a highly focused beam and the result was similar to a tightly-focused high-powered laser going through him, destroying all of the tissue that it came in contact with. Only the cells in the immediate vicinity of the damage were irradiated. He probably had less brain damage than that guy who had a railroad spike driven through his head and lived.

You'll note that at the bottom of his Wikipedia entry there's a link to Proton Therapy as a cancer-treatment. Same deal: A precise beam of particles is shot through the tumor. It destroys the tissue that it comes in contact with and irradiates nearby cells to mangle their DNA so they die or can't reproduce -- only now doctors can control the power, depth, and focal point so it doesn't just blow a tiny radioactive hole straight through the victim patient but can knock out a tumor while inflicting minimal damage to the tissues above and below.

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Dr. Edna Casey: Well Mrs. Carter, it’s difficult to comprehend just how big he is but to give you some idea, we’ve asked comedian Rodney Dangerfield to come along today to help explain it to you. Rodney?
[ Rodney Dangerfield enters ]

Rodney Dangerfield: How do you do, how are you?

Ross Denton: Rodney, can you please tell us, how big is the president?

Rodney Dangerfield: Oh, he’s a big guy, I’ll tell you that, he’s a big guy. I tell you he’s so big, I saw him sitting in the George Washington bridge dangling his feet in the water! He’s a big guy!

Rosalyn Carter: Oh my God! Jimmy! Oh God!

Rodney Dangerfield: Oh, he’s big, I’ll tell you that, boy. He’s so big that when two girls make love to him at the same time, they never meet each other! He’s a big guy, I’ll tell you!

Rosalyn Carter: Oh no! Oh Jimmy! My Jimmy!

Rodney Dangerfield: I don’t want to upset you lady, he’s big, you know what I mean? Why he could have an affair with the Lincoln Tunnel! I mean, he’s really high! He’s big, I’ll tell you! He’s a big guy!

Rosalyn Carter: No! No! No!

Ross Denton: Rodney, thank you very much. You can go.

Rodney Dangerfield: It’s my pleasure. He’s way up there, lady! you know what I mean? [ goes off, leaving Rosalyn Carter very upset ]

CW2V