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Justine Neill

Mr. Newman

English 101: Rhetoric

8 October 2014

The Nuclear Tourist

When you hear the word nuclear radiation , what do you think of? Most people think of

invisible rays that can severely harm you. But should you go near radiation? InNational

Geographics October 2014 issue, George Johnson writes an article called The Nuclear Tourist

that is about his experience going to the abandoned town of Chernobyl that was destroyed when

a nuclear reactor exploded in 1986. Now more than a decade later tourists are being allowed on

the site. Should people be allowed there? Johnson explains there is still radiation at Chernobyl

but not enough to kill you. Johnson successfully argues using ethos and pathos that tourism at

Chernobyl is a good idea by using a creepy tone andthrough images why it is okay to now go to

Chernobyl.

To begin the article Johnson gives a scary fact They say that five sieverts of radiation is

enough to kill you, so I was curious to see the reading on my Russian-made dosimeter as our tour

van passed into the exclusion zone showing how vulnerable the human body actually is and

how easy something as terrifying and serious as radiation could exterminate you. Johnson

experienced the abandoned blast zone from a first hand point of view. He explains how driving

into Chernobyl I glanced at my meter: 0.19 microsieverts per houra fraction of a millionth of

a single sievert, a measure of radiation exposure, which isnt even close to 5 sieverts, since the

actual horrific explosion the radiation has diminished significantly.

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Work Cited

Johnson, George. "The Nuclear Tourist."National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 7

Oct. 2014.