Neutralizing a Nuclear Nightmare -- Online

March 12, 2007 — -- An explosion rocks a local high school. Minutes later, casualties flood into a hospital emergency room.

Only after the first wave of wounded arrive is the hospital informed that the explosion was a result of a dirty bomb -- a weapon designed to scatter radioactive material throughout its blast radius.

And one by one, weaknesses in the system take their toll on emergency efforts.

Hospital administrators call their local radiation safety officer, but he is on vacation and can't be reached.

Health workers search for but cannot locate radiation meters that could help them determine which patients suffered the highest degree of contamination.

Confusion builds as medical professionals wonder about the appropriate way to deal with so many patients as radioactive patients lay waiting for appropriate treatment, possibly contaminating other patients and health professionals.

At the climax of the disaster, the emergency bays of the hospital close down. The system of medical treatment grinds to a halt. All that remains now is a slim hope that casualties and contamination can somehow be kept to a minimum.

Fortunately, the above was just a drill -- one of many conducted in communities across the country since the 9/11 attacks.

But the scenario was frighteningly realistic. And the ways in which the situation was mishandled exposed the weak spots in the medical system of one county when it came to a possible radiological disaster.

"They flubbed it terribly," says Dr. John Moulder, professor of radiation oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Moulder, who did not reveal the location of the scenario described above, says the missteps in the response could have happened anywhere else in the country.

It is a nightmarish scenario. But federal officials hope a new online tool could help health professionals cope with such an episode more effectively.

The words "dirty bomb" have been on the lips of health and law enforcement officials since the terrorist attacks of 2001. But even now, a surefire solution for dealing with such a catastrophe has been elusive.