Director Bill Corcoran crosses Twister with The China Syndrome in this hokey TV-movie disaster thriller. The effects are respectable enough, but the script is packed with stock characters, clichéd situations and unintentionally hilarious dialogue mouthed by, among others, NYPD Blue stars Sharon Lawrence and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Lawrence gives it her best shot as the nuclear power-plant supervisor whose workplace is in the way of a tornado and Gosselaar also tries hard as the deputy sheriff who helps her find her missing son. Former Olympic 100m champion Carl Lewis also turns up as a security man.

When tornadoes hit a nuclear power plant, critically damaging the plant's cooling system, the results could be catastrophic. Atomic Twister, a countdown to disaster, traces an extraordinary day in the lives of small town citizens who unexpectedly find themselves facing the possibility of mass destruction.