Goiânia accident

The Goiânia accident [ɡoˈjɐ̃njə] was a <a href="/facts/Radioactive_contamination/Rd6dcVM9">radioactive contamination</a> accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, in <a href="/facts/Goi%25C3%25A2nia/rLThlKao">Goiânia</a>, <a href="/facts/Goi%25C3%25A1s/RyoomBMA">Goiás</a>, Brazil, after an unsecured <a href="/facts/Radiation_therapy/j60q5EC6">radiotherapy</a> source was stolen from an abandoned hospital site in the city. It was subsequently handled by many people, resulting in four deaths. About 112,000 people were examined for radioactive contamination and 249 of them were found to have been contaminated.
In the consequent cleanup operation, <a href="/facts/Topsoil/BDClBQrs">topsoil</a> had to be removed from several sites, and several houses were demolished. All the objects from within those houses, including personal possessions, were seized and incinerated. <a href="/facts/Time_(magazine)/N4FXc99l">Time magazine</a> has identified the accident as one of the world's "worst <a href="/facts/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents/Sqcvbk0e">nuclear disasters</a>" and the <a href="/facts/International_Atomic_Energy_Agency/o84JrwQ7">International Atomic Energy Agency</a> (IAEA) called it "one of the world's worst radiological incidents".

Goiânia accident open-in-new

Goiânia accident