While nuclear power has been around for decades, and has warmed and heated homes across the globe, the horrendous sequence of events in Japan must teach us that we have not yet harnessed the atom safely.

We got our first taste with Chernobyl in the old USSR; there a reactor disintegrated and poised the earth and air for miles around. That was put down to shoddy maintenance, as well as the fact that nuclear safety had not yet been brought up to scratch.

We have also seen it done in ships and submarines. One of those very submarines sank to the bottom of the sea and is still radiating from the depths. The Kursk’s demise was also brought about as a result of a problem with coolant.

Japan is a country that has embraced nuclear power – despite the carnage wreaked upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is also widely known as the best prepared country in the world to deal with tsunamis and nuclear fallout. Yet, it has struggled with the multiple blasts which were triggered by loss of coolant – quite horrifically ironic when one remembers that the coolant system is actually water.

The incident in Japan has shown that there is no country in the world that can contain the atom’s lethal power when it is split. When all goes swimmingly, we can slow release the power in a reactor on the ground. But when nature strikes back, as was the case with Japan, it shows that the systems we have in place at present are simply not up to the task – they are not safe. Some nations have already called for a review of nuclear power generation policies and this is, at least, a step in the right direction. In recognising that the world’s nuclear facilities are not up to safety standards, we have at least set the ball rolling.

With spiralling costs for oil, fuelled by the world’s sick addiction to fossil fuels, some turned to nuclear power, which is cheaper. There were also arguments that nuclear power is cleaner, but even this argument must now be thrown out of the window.

If man can devise ways to make aircraft fly in the sky, rockets launch into space, food without fire, then we can surely devise a way to make clean energy from renewable sources. Yes, it will cost us more in the short-term, but in the long-term, we can create jobs and spin off technology. But most importantly, it will create clean energy that we can re-use for generation after generation.

While it is still far too early to even begin to comprehend the magnitude of the damage that has been caused to Japan, and indeed the whole world in this radiation leak, one can definitely say that harm has been caused.

If harm has been caused on this level in the best prepared country in the world, one shudders to think what might happen in North Korea and Iran. One country barely has the means to sustain itself, while the other is so embroiled in silencing dissent. We ask a bone chilling question: What would happen if these blasts took place in North Korea or Iran? Without the means to at least mitigate against such pollution, it would affect the whole world. It is time for a drastic rethink; today before tomorrow.