Goiania Radiation Leak: Stolen Source Contaminates City

Two scrap metal scavengers in Goiania, Brazil, pried open an abandoned radiotherapy machine on September 13, 1987, and extracted a small steel capsule containing cesium-137, a highly radioactive isotope that glowed an eerie blue in the dark. Fascinated by the luminescence, they brought it home. Over the next two weeks, the capsule was passed among family members, friends, and neighbors, its powder rubbed on skin like glitter by children who had no idea they were handling one of the most dangerous substances on earth. The Instituto Goiano de Radioterapia, a private cancer clinic, had relocated to new premises two years earlier and left its cobalt teletherapy unit behind in the abandoned building. Brazilian regulatory authorities had been warned about the orphaned source but failed to secure it. When Roberto dos Santos Alves and Wagner Mota Pereira carted the machine home on a wheelbarrow, they set in motion what would become one of the worst radiological contamination incidents in history. The cesium capsule was ruptured and its contents distributed across multiple sites as curiosity drew people to the glowing blue powder. Devair Alves Ferreira, a junkyard owner, gave fragments to relatives. His six-year-old niece, Leide das Neves Ferreira, rubbed the powder on her body and ate a sandwich with contaminated hands. She was among the four people who died from acute radiation syndrome. Her body was so radioactive that it had to be buried in a lead-lined coffin, and an angry mob at the cemetery tried to prevent the burial, fearing contamination of the surrounding area. When the scope of the disaster finally became clear, Brazilian authorities had to decontaminate 112,000 people and demolish several homes. Two hundred and forty-nine people showed significant contamination, and the cleanup generated 3,500 cubic meters of radioactive waste. The Goiania accident remains the largest radiological incident outside of a nuclear facility and a stark warning about the dangers of improperly secured medical radiation sources in the developing world.