A fusion reactor, which is also called a fusion power plant, is a device that produces electric power from energy released from nuclear fusion, in which two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus.Many
received their licenses in the mid 1970s. constellation and energy owns and operates them. >> reporter: the average reactor age in the u.s. is more than 40 years. the partial melt down in 1979 and disaster in chernobyl led to lobbying efforts that raise costs and slow nuclear construction. the last reactor opened in 2016 in tennessee. instead of investing billions to build new plants, energy companies are giving tax credits rp to keep older plants runnin >> all has been replaced. >> reporter: nuclear offers steady power generations that renewables and some fossil fuels can't match. nuclear power plant in maryland, rich edson, fox
or do whatever the next step was. in order to plan this with these tiny bits of time, they built a reactor and they practiced every step of the shutdown and the break down and disassembly of the reactor and they practiced it on the rep lick. a that's how they took it apart. one bolt at a time. one 90-second work shift at a time. it sounds insane but it actually worked. the melted down reactor you with a was safely disassembled and removed from the site. it was reassembled and back up and running safely in just a few years. it was the success that came at great risk to the men who had to run into that radioactive reactor to take it apart bit by bit. the man who was in charge of this incredibly risky, incredibly innovative operation was just 28 years old.
years. it was of course a success that came at great risk to the man who had to run into that radioactive reactor to take it apart it by bit. the man who was in charge of this incredibly risky and incredibly innovative operation was just 28 years old. he was a lieutenant in the navy with nuclear submarine experience. he was one of the only man on the entire planet at the time for the skill set to develop this kind of a plan. and to himself go down inside a meltdown nuclear reactor. a young man at the time, a young man from georgia, his name was james pearl carter. he went by jimmy for short. before jimmy carter became president, before he became a politician of any kind, he was in the navy. he is actually the only american president to have graduated from the u.s. naval academy in minneapolis. he served in the navy for seven years as a submarine or. that is how he got chosen for the prestigious nuclear submarine program. and how he ended up in command
georgia after a series of hospital stays. the naval academy -- presidents day holiday by renaming a building after the 39th president, naval academy graduate. the secretary of the navy said there was no one more worthy, but reminded me of this story from carter's time in the navy. in 1952, a nuclear reactor in canada was melting down. and lieutenant jimmy carter came to the rescue. at the time, he was one of the few people on the planet authorized to go inside a nuclear reactor. he wrote about suiting up and descending into the reactor when it was his turn. the washington post points out in one minute and 29 seconds,, carter had absorbed the maximum amount of radiation human can withstand an a year. the mission was successful. the damaged core was removed. jimmy carter's bravery and service to take us off the air this presidents'day. and on that note, i wish you a good night, remember, you can watch my show, simon, every weekend at 4 pm eastern, right here on msnbc. and from all of our colleagues
summer of 1947. it was used mainly for research purposes. and one day, about five years into the life of that reactor, in december 1952, the reactor exploded. a combination of human error and mechanical failure caused the the reactor to melt down which then set off a series of explosions. it is a miracle that no one was hurt, but in 1952, this was still uncharted territory and it was still very dangerous. you have to keep in mind, this was before fukushima, before chernobyl even. this meltdown at chalk river was the world's first nuclear reactor disaster ever. so even though the explosions of the meltdown didn't kill anybody, they were very concerned about what they would do with all the radiation and the ongoing threat of the still decomposing reactor. there was no model, no instruction manual for how to clean this up. radioactive material had escaped into the atmosphere. the rest of the plant was
flooded with radioactive water. the reactor itself was still very, very highly radioactive. but the whole thing needed to be addressed. they couldn't just leave it. it needed to be shut down and taken apart and then removed from the site so it wouldn't cause any more destruction. well, how do you do that without subjecting the people working on that to a deadly amount of radiation? to figure it out the canadian government enlisted help from the u.s. government and specifically from the u.s. navy. the u.s. navy by that time had an elite nuclear submarine program. they therefore had a lot of trained engineers who are experienced with nuclear technology. even so, they knew that anybody working on this shutdown effort could only spend about 90 seconds inside the reactor before they'd be hit with what was considered to be the limit for radiation exposure.
really have any, like, big publishers or studios. we don't need the connections with the publishers. we don't need to travel the other side of the world. we canjust do it, like, from here with nokia's support. does the fact that there was such a successful mobile product from finland encourage people from finland to want to stay in that space? yeah, of course. yeah. because i think that was the example. you can actually make it big. people here do seem proud of the city's success in mobile tech. always happy to chat about it in bars and cafes. but heritage and goodwill only get you so far. well, this is really kind of where we have... reactor as a company that helps tech businesses, game studios included, makes sure they have the right infrastructure in place to succeed. i think we're just generally very interested in technology. i'm sure that you could also then say that that comes from some war background or something back in the day. but then i think in very many ways it's about the cultural
followed by a steep learning curve as they adapted to the harsh environment of rural louisiana. their culinary traditions are a direct reflection of those days. >> man: mardi gras! >> megan arceneaux: this is saturday, right? so we are prepping for mardi gras. >> anthony: so these people have been drunk for how long? >> megan arceneaux: about a week. yeah. >> anthony: so what part of, where am i? >> megan arceneaux: man, you're in the middle of grand coteau, louisiana. >> anthony: right. this is not the bayou, this is -- the prairie >> megan arceneaux: oh, you're in the prairie. that's what grand coteau is -- "big hill." >> anthony: right. so that's like right now where you're at, you're actually at one of the highest points in louisiana if you can believe that. it's kind of scary, right? >> anthony: eight feet elevation. >> megan arceneaux: you take a cajun to the mountains, they might get a little woozy. ♪ >> anthony: no party around here would be complete without a crawfish boil. all right, fire up the reactor. hell, yeah.