In just over a week, the MotoGP World Championship will return to Brazil, a country it hasn’t visited since 1995. Back then, the Grand Prix was held at the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio de Janeiro. It’s one of the races people remember with the most nostalgia.
This time, however, the race won’t be held in Rio de Janeiro, but in Goiânia, which hosted the World Championship from 1987 to 1989, before passing the baton to Interlagos.
Goiânia is not Rio, and in 1987, unbeknownst to the World Championship, a unique radioactive incident occurred in Goiânia. In Brazil, it is one of the most serious nuclear accidents in history not linked to a nuclear power plant. It was caused by a medical source of cesium-137 abandoned in a defunct hospital.
What happened
In September 1987, two scrap metal collectors entered a former abandoned radiotherapy center in Goiânia, in the state of Goiás. They found a radiotherapy machine containing about 93 grams of cesium-137, a highly radioactive substance. They took the machine to a scrap yard, where it was dismantled.
When the capsule was opened, a bright blue powder (radioactive cesium chloride) appeared, emitting a blue glow in the dark. Many people touched it because it looked like something curious or even valuable.
The Contamination
The radioactive material was unwittingly spread: taken home, given to friends, and scattered on objects and clothing. Within a few days, dozens of people began to feel ill (vomiting, burns, nausea), but no one understood why.
The toll
By the time authorities realized what was happening, four people had died from acute radiation syndrome, 249 people had been contaminated, approximately 112,000 people had been screened with Geiger counters, and over 1,000 homes had been inspected—with as many as 85 houses demolished due to contamination
One of the most well-known victims was Leide das Neves Ferreira, a 6-year-old girl who had played with the glowing powder.
The Decontamination
The city had to undertake a massive decontamination operation: tons of soil, clothing, and objects were collected, and the contaminated materials were buried in special nuclear waste repositories; entire neighborhoods were quarantined.
The accident is classified as a Level 5 on the INES scale (like Three Mile Island) and is the worst civilian radiological accident in history. The most disturbing thing is that it did not involve a nuclear reactor: it was caused simply by a medical source left unsecured.
The city’s racetrack, now known as the Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna de Goiânia, had been inaugurated in 1974, but following the accident, it was increasingly used as a tool for revitalization.
In the 1990s and 2000s, it hosted: Formula Truck races, Brazilian auto and motorcycle championships, and minor international events
The idea was clear: to bring the public and the media back to Goiânia with something completely different from the image of the nuclear accident.
The hardest-hit neighborhood was Setor Aeroporto, in the city center. Radioactive material was also carried to other neighborhoods, but none of these are near the racetrack, which is located in the northeastern part of the city, in a completely different area.
And how did the GP go?
The 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix, held in Goiânia on September 27, was a very important race in the history of the World Motorcycle Championship: not only was it the first edition of the GP in Goiânia, but it practically decided the 500cc world title.
It was the 14th round of the 1987 season and the penultimate race of the championship. In the standings, Wayne Gardner ( Honda) was already close to the title and arrived in Brazil with the chance to seal the deal.
The paddock arrived in South America with some concerns: trips there weren’t always easy, and many privateers didn’t show up due to travel costs. In the end, however, the organization was deemed good, even though the track was rather bumpy.
The race was dominated by Wayne Gardner, who started from pole position and controlled the race from start to finish. The Australian won, finishing ahead of Eddie Lawson, Randy Mamola, Didier De Radigues, and Christian Sarron.
Only two classes raced in Goiânia: the 500cc and the 250cc, which was won by Dominique Sarron ahead of Sito Pons and Carlos Cardús. The smaller classes (125cc and 80cc) were not included in that year’s races outside Europe.