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September 10-13, 1987
Two individuals, W.P. and R.A., entered a derelict radiotherapy clinic in Goiania, Brazil trying to find valuable equipement. They found and removed the shiny stainless steel assemble of a radiotherapy unit. Moving it 1/2 km away from the clinic. Since no contamination was found at the clinic, the source was presumed still intact. -
September 13-15: The First Signs of Trouble
9/13 R.A. and W.P. were vomiting, but assumed that this was due to something they had eaten. 9/14 W.P. had diarrhea and felt dizzy, one hand was swollen. They subsequently had hand/wrist burns consistent with holding the rotating assembly over the beam aperture. 9/15 W.P. sought medical assistance and was diagnosed with some kind of allergic reaction. He was advised to stay home and rest for a week. -
September 18: The Plot Thickens
The radiotherapy assembly was placed under a mango tree at R.A.'s home, where they removed the source. Residual contamination under the tree gave a dose rate of 1.1 Gy*h at 1m, everything was demolished and topsoil removed. The assembly pieces were sold to a junkyard manager, D.F., who noticed a blue glow from the a powder in the source that night. D.F. and his wife M.F.1 examined the powder closely and showed many others. D.F. had a dose of 7.0Gy(survived) and M.F.1 5.7Gy(died). -
September 21: From Bad to Worse
D.F. and a friend, E.F.1, removed more powder from the source. E.F.1 gave fragments to his brother and took the rest home. D.F. gave fragments to his family, some daubing it directly on their skin like makeup. -
September 21-23: Food Allergy Misdiagnosis
M.F.1 was diagnosed with food allergy reaction with vomiting and diarrhea. Her mother M.A.1 came to nurse her for 2 days and returned home, some distance away, taking a significant amount of contamination with her. M.A.1 had an estimated initial intake of 10MBq and an estimated dose of 4.3Gy. Although critically ill at one stage, she survived. -
September 22-24: Making Matters Worse
Two of D.F.'s employees worked to extract the lead from the rotating assembly. They incurred doses of 4.5 Gy and 5.3 Gy respectively. Bothe subsequently dies. It is believed that their exposures were most likely acute from working on the effectively unshielded remnants of the source assembly. -
September 23-27: The Trouble Continues
9/23 W.P. was admitted to a hospital until 9/27, when he was transferred to the Tropical Disesases Hospital. 9/24 The brother of D.F. brought fragments home placing them on the table during a meal. His 6 year old handled while eating by hand and died from the subsequent dose. Her est. intake and dose were 1.0 GBq and 6Gy respectively. 9/25 D.F. sold the lead and remnant source assembly to a 3rd junkyard. -
September 28: The Pieces Begin to Fall into Place
M.F.1 was convinced at this time that the growing sickness was caused by the glowing powder from the source assembly. She and an employee from the 3rd junkyard took the remnants by bus to a doctor, Dr. P.M., at the Vigilancia Sanitaria. M.F.1 and the employee and several others who were contaminated were diagnosed with a tropical disease. Two doctors became suspicious of radiation exposure and made contact with Dr. P.M. They then contacted the Dept. of Environment of Goias State. -
September 29 08:00-11:00: The Ball Finally Gets Rolling
0800 W.F., a visiting licensed medical physicist is contacted and agreed to take measurements of suspicious package of Dr. P.M. 1020 W.F. arrived at Dr. P.M.'s office recognizing enroute that there was a major source of radiation. Upon arriving he dissuaded the fire brigade from throwing the source into a river. 1100 W.F. persuaded the occupants of the Vigilancia Sanitaria to evacuate with the assisstance of the police and fire brigade. -
September 29 1600-2000: A True Response Begins
The following actions were taken more or less at the same time: Tropical Diseases Hospital was contacted and informed that many of their pts were contaminated and suffering from radiation exposure. Civil defense forces were alerted. Known contaminated sites were resurveyed with wider range of instruments. Secretary for Health held a meeting and made plans for receiving contaminated persons in the city's stadium. -
September 29 22:00 Full Speed Ahead
An associate of D.F.'s found W.F. and explained how the source assembly had been broken up and where the pieces had been taken. This enabled the monitoring team to identify more major sites and evacuate more contaminated persons. 22 additional people were identified at the stadium as potentially highly exposed and were separated. All of the sites that were found to be contaminated were either decontaminated or demolished and the topsoil was removed. -
September 29 1200-1500: Gaining momentum
1200 Dr. P.M. explained where the source came from and he and W.F. went to the first junkyard finding a wide area of radiation contamination. They convinced D.F., his family, and many neighbors to evacuate. 1300 W.F. and others notified the Secretary for Health of Goias State of the seriousness of the situation. 1500 The Director of the Dept. of Nuclear Installations in CNEN was reached by phone and began coordinating a response. -
Map of the Event
A: Radiotherapy Clinic
B: Source 1st exposed
C: Junkyard 1
D: Junkyard 2
E: Junkyard 3
F: Vigilancia Sanitaria
G: W.F.'s house
H: Stadium
J: General Hospital
K, L: Other contamination points
M; Initial CNEN command post
N: Present CNEN office