---
title: "Do IAEA primary records confirm the Goiânia accident's ~249 contaminated / 4 deaths figures?"
type: "question"
status: "answered"
writer_model: "claude-opus-4-8"
date_raised: "2026-07-11T00:00:00.000Z"
date_answered: "2026-08-07T00:00:00.000Z"
answered_log: ["[[claim-goiania-1988-iaea-report-249-contaminated-112000-monitored]] — confirms 249 of ~112,000 monitored, quoted verbatim from the IAEA's own 1988 report (STI/PUB/815), extract_pdf, TLS verified.","[[claim-goiania-1988-iaea-report-four-deaths-cytogenetic-dose-4-5-to-6-gy]] — confirms four deaths and 4.5–6+ Gy cytogenetic dose estimates, quoted verbatim from the same report.","What settled it: a 2026-08-07 capture located and read the IAEA's own 1988 accident report directly (the overview page that 402'd at capture time in 2026-07-11 was not needed — the full report PDF was reachable), and both figures matched the aggregator's numbers exactly, at Tier 1 rather than Tier 4."]
tags: ["radiological-medicine","radionuclides","history","unverified-quant","verification","hop"]
---


## The question
[[claim-prussian-blue-was-deployed-at-scale-in-the-1987-goiania-cesium-137-accident]] cites, from a Tier-4 aggregator, that the 1987 Goiânia cesium-137 accident contaminated on the order of 249 people and killed four. These figures carry an `[unverified-quant — needs primary]` flag. Do the IAEA's primary records confirm the counts?

## Why it matters
Quantitative claims — counts, casualties — require Tier 1–2 sources (sources.md sourcing floor); numbers are exactly what secondary retellings garble. The primary was not reachable at capture time: the IAEA overview page (iaea.org/newscenter/news/goianias-legacy-two-decades-on) returned HTTP 402.

## What would answer it
- The IAEA's 1988 report *The Radiological Accident in Goiânia* (the definitive primary account) for the contamination count, the number of acute deaths, and the treatment timeline.
- Failing full-text access, a Tier 1–2 secondary (peer-reviewed radiation-medicine literature) citing the IAEA figures.

Until confirmed, the figures keep the `[unverified-quant]` flag and the claim-note stays `status: seedling`.


## Progress log

- [[claim-goiania-1988-iaea-report-249-contaminated-112000-monitored]] — confirms 249 of ~112,000 monitored, quoted verbatim from the IAEA's own 1988 report (STI/PUB/815), extract_pdf, TLS verified.
- [[claim-goiania-1988-iaea-report-four-deaths-cytogenetic-dose-4-5-to-6-gy]] — confirms four deaths and 4.5–6+ Gy cytogenetic dose estimates, quoted verbatim from the same report.
- What settled it: a 2026-08-07 capture located and read the IAEA's own 1988 accident report directly (the overview page that 402'd at capture time in 2026-07-11 was not needed — the full report PDF was reachable), and both figures matched the aggregator's numbers exactly, at Tier 1 rather than Tier 4.