Karen Silkwood worked at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant in Oklahoma from 1972 to 1974. She was a member of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union and became an advocate for worker safety and fair wages. She reported numerous safety violations at the plant to her union and the Atomic Energy Commission.
In 1974, Silkwood discovered that she had been contaminated with plutonium, which is highly radioactive and extremely dangerous. She believed that Kerr-McGee had intentionally exposed her to the substance to silence her. She also found evidence of falsification of quality-control records, which could have led to a nuclear disaster.
Silkwood became the subject of intense surveillance, both at work and at home. She was followed by private investigators and her phone was tapped. She also received threatening phone calls and had her car tampered with.
On November 13, 1974, Silkwood was on her way to a meeting with a New York Times reporter to discuss her claims of safety violations at the plant. She never made it. Her car was found off the road, and she was dead at the scene.
Many believed that Silkwood was murdered to prevent her from exposing the safety violations at the plant. Her family filed a lawsuit against Kerr-McGee, accusing the company of negligence and outright murder. The case was settled out of court for $1.38 million, with no admission of guilt by Kerr-McGee.
The story of Karen Silkwood became a symbol of the fight for worker safety and the dangers of corporate greed. The movie Silkwood, released in 1983 and starring Meryl Streep, brought her story to a wider audience.