Goiania Accident
Scavengers broke open an abandoned radiotherapy machine and sold the glowing caesium-137 source, causing Brazil's worst radiological disaster.
How It Started
In September 1987, two scavengers broke into an abandoned private radiotherapy clinic in Goiania and removed a teletherapy unit. They sold it to a junkyard owner who used a screwdriver to puncture the source capsule. Inside he found a glowing blue powder - caesium-137 chloride - which fascinated everyone who saw it.
The Spread
Not understanding what they had found, the junkyard owner and his family handled the material and shared it with friends and relatives. A six-year-old girl who played with the powder and ate contaminated food received a catastrophic dose. The material spread to homes across the city before the danger was recognized.
Discovery and Response
After nearly two weeks, a medical physicist recognized the telltale signs of radiation sickness. By then 249 people had been contaminated, 20 seriously. The Brazilian government launched a massive decontamination operation. Seven properties had to be demolished entirely. The soil and debris filled 275 large metal containers.
Legacy
The Goiania accident led to the IAEA's "orphan source" program, which works to track and secure all radioactive sources worldwide. It demonstrated that radiation accidents do not only happen at nuclear power plants and that abandoned medical and industrial sources represent a serious ongoing risk.
📅 Timeline
Scavengers remove teletherapy unit from abandoned clinic
Unit sold to junkyard; owner opens the source capsule
Glowing blue material shared with family and neighbors
Multiple people hospitalized with mysterious illness
Medical physicist identifies the source as caesium-137
Mass decontamination begins; 4 deaths by end of month