Nuke whistleblower died in mysterious circumstances
FEB 19, 1946
SAFETY concerns at a nuclear plant, unexplained plutonium contamination and death in a suspicious car crash.
No wonder the story of Karen Silkwood was made into a movie, with Meryl Streep Oscarnominated for her portrayal of the union activist who became a whistleblower raising fears over health and safety practices at a facility making fuel rods for nuclear reactors.
Silkwood, who was born on February 19, 1946, was just 28 when she died on her way to meet a New York Times journalist on the night of November 13, 1974.
A mother of three, she was a chemical technician and a member of her local Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers’ Union which assigned her to investigate the Kerr-McGhee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication site in Oklahoma where she worked.
Silkwood discovered numerous violations and the union threatened to sue the plant, saying it had manufactured faulty fuel rods, falsified records and risked employee safety.
She testified to the US Atomic Energy Commission about being contaminated herself, alleging safety standards had slipped because of a production speed-up.
On November 5, 1974, Silkwood had performed a routine self-check and discovered her body contained almost 400 times the legal limit for plutonium contamination.
She tested positively again on the following two days, and a team checking her house found plutonium in several places.
Silkwood thought she’d been exposed at the plant, but Kerr McGhee argued she’d contaminated herself in order to show the firm in a bad light.
She said she’d assembled documentation to back up her claims and left to meet a reporter, carrying a binder and a packet of documents.
There was no sign of the documents when her body was found in her car later that evening, having crashed off the road.
The state trooper who found her discovered sedative tablets and marijuana in the car, and the police report suggested Silkwood fell asleep at the wheel.
But some think she was rammed from behind to cause the crash, and skid marks found on the road backed that up.
There was damage at the rear of her Honda that couldn’t be explained by the frontal collision alone, and paint chips from another vehicle were also discovered that could have resulted from some form of rear impact.
Silkwood’s family claimed she’d received threatening phone calls.
They later sued Kerr-McGhee, which was found liable for her contamination and settled out of court for $1.4 million.