The Yucca Mountain WIPP is a repository for radioactive waste, mostly coming from nuclear weapons programs. The materials stored there will remain dangerous for 10,000 years. In terms of human civilization, that is a very long time. It is unlikely that our culture, language or civilization will survive unchanged for that long. Hence, the problem of communicating the danger of the place is extremely interesting.

The Department of Energy commissioned 2 separate teams of artists, anthropologists, science-fiction writers and scientists to develop a system of warning signs. They selected those elements of the system where both teams were in agreement.

The video is based on the design specification, and the proposals from both teams. All the material used is taken from these documents - no additional content was created or introduced.

Originally, this was presented as an installation consisting of 4 translucent screens, irregularly torn and ripped, with two simultaneous video projections, one from each side. From the front, the projection was a selection of material from the WIPP design specification, including proposed solutions from the design team. From the back, the projection was of amorphous, Cerenkov blue clouds and atomic cloud chamber experiments. Over the 5 minute course of the the video loops, the background loop becomes brighter and brighter, penetrating the holes in the screens and eventually overwhelming the data projection.

This is a single channel video version, combining both foreground and background channels.

The score is based on the "Conet project" recordings of clandestine "number" stations, believed to be used to communicate with spies in the field. The theme of enigmatic communication links it to the piece, as well as the resonance with themes of nuclear weapons and the Cold War (the Yucca Mountain site will contain radioactive waste from weapons production).