Radiological accident in Goiania seven years later: what developing country must never forget

In September 1987, the removal of the rotating assembly of the shielding head of a teletherapy unit and the dismantling of the capsule containing 50.9 TBq (1375 Ci) of Cs-137 was the most serious radiological accident to have occurred to date. It resulted in the injure by radiation of many people, four of them fatally, and in a widespread contamination of central Goiania, a Brazilian city, of one million inhabitants, Capital of the State of Goias, 180 km far from Brasilia, capital of Brazil. This accident presents lessons that cover the pre-accident period, the emergency phase, and the post-accident phase up to the the present, seven years later, now involving social and economical deliberation for the final Goiania Waste Repository. In each of them were found errors, omissions and correct actions form individuals and organization and, specially in developing country, must be continuously analyzed in terms of safety culture problems identification and safety culture and human beahvior because, not with standing the recommendations contained in publications concerning emergency planning and preparedness, this radiological accident gave evidence of several adverse vectors not mentioned in the literature. Not only social, political, economic and technical problems we had to deal with, but also psychological aspects as fear and depression of the population and also discrimination against the victioms and the main products of the city. This paper also concentrates on safety culture characteristics from the accident lessons, which in developing country are substantially different from the developed one, including the influence and difference of legislation and rules applied, the interfaces and conflicts between the state and the BNCNE and the different aspects involved in providing information and reports to the government, to the organizations and to the community; and finally call the attention from the national and international organizations for questions still in the population, seven years after the accident. (author)