[Alizarine]

True, this is a tragedy unexpected. A lot of businesses will be affected and what happened will surely have an impact in their economy. Good thing most of their major companies have plants outside Japan too so they can maintain production somehow... they'll need it to keep Japan up.

No bad news coming out of the Pentax plant here in the Philippines so far. Hopefully everything will go well for Japan..

[lithos]

Suddenly, "ASSEMBLED IN VIETNAM" doesn't seem so tacky.

[JoeATL]

I hope everything works out over there.

[Fontan]

It really isn't going well.

[jogiba]

Japanese officials decided Tuesday to raise nuclear crisis alert level to 7, highest, equal to Chernobyl.

Japan raises nuclear alert to Chernobyl level - CBS News

[jcp5]

Situation "Grave". So said the Japanese Prime Minister on TV. Not Good!
Within the first week of the quake I saw pictures on TV of the following:

1. Japan Nuke Plant before quake - 6 reactor buildings lined up in row - At least one had spent (still radioactive-need to be cooled) fuel storage in the building. Very insane design and they built it on the known earthquake side of island.
2. Japan Nuke Plant after quake - All reactors damaged- Lost all power and the one with the fuel Rods storage exploded.
When I read they were working to get power to the reactor buildings I thought to myself:
1. All of them or just a couple. Power to what? Heavy duty damage. A couple of the reactor buildings exploded apart. Reactors lost or are losing coolant water. Continuing significant aftershocks. Radiation leakage continues.

Radiation exposure is cumulative in our bodies, water and land. It does not wear off and only decreases in the "thousands of years" kind of time. Every time you get exposed it adds to the last exposure (cumulative).
We call radiated land - dead zones!

I am concerned for increasing and long duration radiation exposure to everybody and everything! Most importantly to children because of their size and the harmful effects on their physical development. Also their ability to repair the reactors continues to deteriorate. One thing we know is that science experts continue to change their comments and recommendations as they learn or the facts force them to (on any subject) so maybe we should just think of them as people with an opinion - like me -

Sorry for the reality check but this disaster is being presented on TV like it isn't as serious as it really is. Japan will be trying to contain this problem for another year or two at least. The resulting health hazard to Japanese people, land, fresh water and surrounding ocean water is not good. The things we call ocean currents, fish migrations and jet streams make the hazard more local. It is not the end of the world but we need be smarter about heath risks vs some peoples bottom line.

[jogiba]

I received a note from Pentax stating that the plant that made the XW eyepiece glass was destroyed in the earthquake/tsunami disaster.
Pentax has run out of XW eyepieces and has no remaining stock.
Production is not scheduled for "the foreseeable future".
It may be quite a while until these come back to market, IF they do.
This will affect other Pentax products as well.

Telescope Reviews: Pentax XW availability

BTW I have many Pentax eyepieces that I use in my Pentax PF-80ED spotting scope and several astro scopes.

[Ratmagiclady]

Suddenly, "ASSEMBLED IN VIETNAM" doesn't seem so tacky.

Hey, be fair: my favorite lens comes from Vietnam: pretty sure my K20d's from the Phillipines: they can do it. They just gotta work at it, optical industries don't appear overnight. It's just kind of about standards.

[jcp5]

Vietnam and Phillipines are Pentax assembly plants who get their components from the Pentax supply chain. They have Pentax people managing them and get better over time as they learn. Based on what I read about the QC/Service problems with Nikon, Canon, Sony cameras and lenses they are doing a pretty good job. They need to do better of course. The Pentax U.S.A. service center does a better job backing up the Pentax warranty then others. If its all relative to the competition then Pentax is the preferred brand in this regard. Since all the most critical components come from Japan you will see shortages in supply due to earthquake effects.

[falconeye]

One thing we know is that science experts continue to change their comments and recommendations as they learn or the facts force them to (on any subject) so maybe we should just think of them as people with an opinion - like me -
[...]
It is not the end of the world but we need be smarter about heath risks vs some peoples bottom line.

You are from the US, not Japan.

So, I'd rather appreciate you voice concerns about running reactors of the same type in an earthquake zone of the same class of risk -- in YOUR country ... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Canyon_Power_Plant and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_Station).

[jcp5]

"falconeye" the nuclear plants in the United States continue to be protested against as they are just as unsafe as the ones that are in any other country. That is because they are all built and operated by " for profit" business people whose first priority is not safety. The effects are global as I have already stated. My technical career and life experiences have shown my statement about science experts (medical also) to be true. Their track record is not so good.
On a lighter note my new K5 is clean and fully functional. Thankfully the April weather in upstate NY is bad. Gives me time to sort out new lenses, tripod and ball head. K5 is a very nice camera.

[falconeye]

"falconeye" the nuclear plants in the United States continue to be protested against as they are just as unsafe as the ones that are in any other country.

I think at least after Fukushima it would make some sense to distinguish between nuclear power plants built in earthquake regions and those which aren't. I agree however that there are enough other risks involved (like terrorist attacks) to say that no plant is safe "enough".

Nevertheless, one has to start somewhere (to shut plants down) and old type reactors in earthquake California are the perfect start. That's what I wanted to point at.