Abhiroop Das
Created by Gustavo Lipsztein, Netflix’s ‘Radioactive Emergency,’ also known as ‘Emergência Radioativa,’ traces a fictionalized rendition of the real-life Goiânia accident, wherein an unsecured radiotherapy capsule triggered a chain reaction of radiation poisoning amongst hundreds of people. In the show, a physicist by the name of Marcio visits the town to celebrate his father’s birthday but finds himself spearheading the drive to protect as many people as possible by screening the streets, rivers, and transportation systems of Goiânia. He is not alone in this process, however, and draws constant support from the CNEN, which gives its all to the cause. Dr. Paula Matos is one of the many heroes who appear in this Brazilian docu-drama series and is a key player in keeping things under control.
Paula Matos is Likely Based on a Real Physician Who Screened Hundreds of Potential Patients
As ‘Radioactive Emergency’ is a dramatization of the real-life Goiânia accident, many of the show’s characters, settings, and plot beats are fictionalized to an extent, but still find their roots in how the crisis took shape in real life. To that end, it is possible that the character of Dr. Paula Matos, described as an IRD official with a PhD from Zurich University, is based on a real-life official who helped manage the radiation contamination in 1987. Records put her closest to a CNEN-IRD physician, who hasn’t been named in most reports, but nonetheless played a crucial role in managing the incident.
Brazil’s CNEN, or the National Nuclear Energy Commission, joined hands with the Institute of Radiation Protection and Dosimetry, or IRD, when news about the radiation contamination first broke out in September of 1987. As per reports, in the morning of 30 September, a seasoned IRD physician arrived by air at the Olympic stadium, which was turned into a medical triage. They were accompanied by two more physicists and soon found that the doctors who had first raised the alarm about the contamination were already screening more people. Following this, an additional 22 patients were found to display symptoms of exposure. It is believed that this unnamed physician collaborated with local medical talent to screen as many as hundreds of potential patients, saving countless lives in the process.
Paula Matos Acts as a Composite Figure Who Brings Together Everything the CNEN Did to Save Lives
Around the same time that people were being screened and diagnosed, the unnamed physician also observed the closing off of all contaminated sites, which in turn raised more public curiosity and paranoia about the situation. Around 2 October, the team reportedly received maps detailing all the residential areas that could be considered contamination hotspots. By the following day, all the neighborhoods that showed a radiation reading above a certain level were evacuated, with strict measures being imposed. All of these details can be found in ‘Radioactive Emergency’ in some shape or form, with the character of Paula featuring in most of these scenes. Just as the real-life physician, she arrives at the scene and immediately figures out the gaps in the initial medical response. Following this, she is the first to realize that the entire neighborhood might be contaminated much beyond initial estimates, and this prompts her to spearhead the evacuation drive.
Following the evacuation of roughly 200 people, the CNEN reportedly set up a laboratory in Goiânia to investigate the cesium content of soils, rivers, and groundwater, and the other major water bodies in the region. While the subsequent findings found the level of contamination in drinking water to be quite low, it was noted that rainfall in the region had spread radiation to odd places, such as rooftops. In the show, Paula is in charge of investigating the river for contamination and is ultimately the one to definitively prove that drinking water in Goiânia is safe. As such, while her character partially draws on real-life beats surrounding the incident, it is still steeped in a level of fictionality that allows the show to push its creative boundaries.
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