Radiation accident grips Goiania
On 13 September two young scavengers in Goiania, Brazil, removed a stainless steel cylinder from a cancer therapy machine in an abandoned clinic, touching off a radiation accident second only to Chernobyl in its severity. On 18 September they sold the cylinder, the size of a 1-gallon paint can, to a scrap dealer for $25. At the junk yard an employee dismantled the cylinder and pried open the platinum capsule inside to reveal a glowing blue salt-like substance - 1400 curies of cesium-137. Fascinated by the luminescent powder, several people took it home with them. Some children reportedly rubbed in on their bodies like carnival glitter - an eerie image of how wrong things can go when vigilance over radioactive materials lapses. In all, 244 people in Goiania, a city of 1 million in central Brazil, were contaminated. The eventual toll, in terms of cancer or genetic defects, cannot yet be estimated. Parts of the city are cordoned off as radiation teams continue washing down buildings and scooping up radioactive soil. The government is also grappling with the political fallout from the accident.
- OSTI ID:
- 6765717
- Journal Information:
- Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 238
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
BRAZIL
RADIATION ACCIDENTS
CESIUM 137
TOXICITY
POLITICAL ASPECTS
INHALATION
SKIN ABSORPTION
ABSORPTION
ACCIDENTS
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM ISOTOPES
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
INTAKE
ISOTOPES
LATIN AMERICA
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
SOUTH AMERICA
UPTAKE
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
560161* - Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology- Man