User:Skywalker89/Nuclear Sign

Nuclear Sign

The Trefoil Nuclear sign

There are two "official" Nuclear Signs: The original Trefoil, also known as "Three Blade Design", was created 1946 by the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California in Berkeley.

The original meaning of the designed "Trefoil" remains uncertain. One theory says that it symbolizes activity radiation from an atom.

Another theory claims it represents and warns about a spinning propeller. This theory has some credibility since the Lab was close to a Naval Base and a similar sign there warned about the dangers of rotating propellers.

Another theory goes that the sign's centered circle symbolized a radiation and the hatchets represent the radiation, called alpha, beta and gamma.

Over the years, the original nuclear sign went through metamorphoses. The first version was magenta on a blue background until the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) decided upon the yellow and black combination as the representation we know today for worldwide use.

Because of the high incidence of people getting hurt by radioactive substances, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE) decided in 2007 that a new -addidtional- sign was needed to protect the worldwide population.

They setup a team of experts to design a sign which was readable even to children.

New Nuclear Warning Sign

The new sign is similar to the trefoil in its triangular design. The radiating trefoil shows the presence of radiation, the red background and skull and crossbones shows that danger is near and the individual running away from the scene tells the viewer what action to take if they see the sign.

This new nuclear sign was designed by psychologists, behaviorists as well as by experts on radiation protection.

The testing for its comprehensibility was done throughout the Americas, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, next to some Slavic countries.

It was then standardized by the ISO and IAEA in 2007.

The signage is for radiation categories 1 through 3, including teletherapy machines, industrial radiology and food irradiators.

The discussion about the safety of future generations remains despite the new Nuclear Sign whether this new sign will be understood in the far future, once our cultural reference is not existing any more. As we cannot today read and make sense of most ancient symbol languages (we can only read Egyptian Hieroglyphs because of the Rosetta Stone) and nuclear waste will stay active for thousands of years.

A scientific suggestion is to form a religion around the waste areas with a "forbidden area" message, since religion is the cultural tradition and knowledge with the longest life-time.

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