June 17, 2002 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A terrorist strike using radioactive materials likely would kill fewer people than the Sept. 11 attacks, but would produce a psychological effect that the country remains unprepared for, nuclear medical experts said.
Though casualties might be kept relatively low, the country's health care system remains unprepared to handle mass radioactive contamination, with some hospitals relying on their morgues as emergency treatment areas, doctors said Saturday at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's annual meeting.
The most likely scenarios of a terrorist strike using radiation include: exploding a conventional bomb to scatter radioactive debris; attacking a nuclear reactor or supply of nuclear material, or poisoning the water supply, experts said.
Any case would prove a very effective terrorist weapon by spreading fear across the entire population.
"In a 'dirty bomb' scenario, the psycho-social effect would be vastly greater than the bomb itself," said Jonathan Links, professor of environmental health sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.
"It's difficult to kill someone with radiation," said Henry Royal, a professor of radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine and an expert on managing radiation.
The worst nuclear accident in history, which occurred in 1986 at Ukraine's Chernobyl plant, directly killed only 31 people, although many more died from exposure to radiation later.
"It is inconceivable that a terrorist could get their hands on that amount of radioactive material," Royal said.
In many ways, a radioactive terrorist strike would be easier to handle than a biological or chemical attack, experts said, because those who are affected would not sicken others. Radioactive contamination can be washed off and most of it remains on the clothes, Royal said.
Authorities recently detained U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, a Muslim convert from Chicago, on suspicion of being part of a plot to detonate a radiological weapon in the United States. He has not been charged but he is in military custody.
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
