Yeah. I know. I served under Carter too, and there was some rot in the Navy at the time, but there was rot everywhere, in all branches, and in society too. I had a great time in the Seventies, but there were a LOT of people who struggled to get by, and the country and military had a general air of decrepitness and depressing disrepair to it.
I detest Carter and all he ever stood for, but like you, I recognize that he served and I don’t find fault with him there, even though I have no idea in what esteem he was held by in the eyes of his peers or the men who served under him. And having worked as a Nuc Med tech for years, I have interest in and have read quite a bit and understand to a better degree than most people the nuclear industry, and I had read accounts of the Chalk River incident. (we learned a lot from that about cleanup, which was why he was there. IIRC, Rickover sent Navy people up there on his own, didn’t consult with anyone)
The USS Jimmy Carter is a bit of a mild running joke, though I would be interested to hear what any of her crew members think.
But the USS Harvey Milk is an abomination.
Just a wild guess or speculation on my part but I think Rickover likely understood what was a stake at Chalk river or the potentials and acted accordingly. Our own handling of nuclear material even at that time had still not fully realized the hazards. Some DOD/DOE boo boo’s are all over the place including in my county which was part of the Manhattan Project.