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I woke up in the middle of the night and I was glowing green. OK, that isn't true but 25 years ago it might have been.
On September 13, 1987, a radioactive contamination accident occurred when an old radiotherapy device was stolen from an abandoned hospital site in the city. The thieves then broke it apart to sell the pieces. Little did they know by doing so they were signing their death warrants along with others including some of their own family.
The radioactive elements were handled by many unsuspecting people, resulting in four deaths. About 112,000 people were examined for radioactive contamination and 249 were found to have significant levels of radioactive material in or on their body.
In the cleanup operation, topsoil had to be removed from several sites, and several houses were demolished. All the objects from within those houses were removed. Time magazine identified the accident as one of the world's "worst nuclear disasters" and the International Atomic Energy Agency called it "one of the world's worst radiological incidents".
I don't remember hearing of this at the time but it did impact the city negatively for years after.
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