Communication Measures to Bridge Ten Millennia

Abstract

The Department of Energy created the Human Interference Task Force (HITF) in 1980 to investigate the problems connected with the postclosure, final marking of a filled nuclear waste repository. The task of the HITF is to devise a method of warning future generations not to mine or drill at that site unless they are aware of the consequences of their actions. Since the likelihood of human interference should be minimized for 10,000 years, an effective and long-lasting warning system must be designed. This report is a semiotic analysis of the problem, examining it in terms of the science or theory of messages and symbols. Because of the long period of time involved, the report recommends that a relay system of recoding messages be initiated; that the messages contain a mixture of iconic, indexical, and symbolic elements; and that a high degree of redundancy of messages be employed.

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