Karen Silkwood facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Karen Silkwood
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Poster from the Christic Institute archives.
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Karen Gay Silkwood
February 19, 1946 Longview, Texas, U.S.
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| Died | November 13, 1974 (aged 28) near Crescent, Oklahoma, U.S.
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| Cause of death | Car crash |
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William Meadows
(m. 1965; div. 1972) |
| Children | 3 |
Karen Gay Silkwood (born February 19, 1946 – died November 13, 1974) was an American chemical technician. She was also a union activist. Karen is known for speaking up about safety at a nuclear power plant.
She worked at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plant in Oklahoma. There, she made plutonium pellets. She became the first woman on her union's negotiating team. Karen told the Atomic Energy Commission about her worries. Later, she was found to have plutonium on her body and in her home. She died in a car crash while going to meet a journalist. The details of her death are still unclear.
Her family later sued Kerr-McGee because of the plutonium contamination. The company agreed to pay $1.38 million. They did not admit they were at fault. Karen's story was made into a movie called Silkwood in 1983. The famous actress Meryl Streep played Karen in the film.
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Karen's Early Life
Karen Gay Silkwood was born in Longview, Texas. She grew up in Nederland, Texas. She had two sisters named Linda and Rosemary. Karen went to Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. In 1965, she married William Meadows. He worked on oil pipelines. They had three children together. Karen and William faced financial difficulties. She left him in 1972. Then, she moved to Oklahoma City. She worked briefly as a hospital clerk.
Union Work and Safety Concerns
In 1972, Karen started working at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plant. This plant was near Crescent, Oklahoma. She joined the local Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union. She also took part in a strike at the plant. After the strike, she was chosen for the union's bargaining team. She was the first woman to get this position at the plant.
Karen was asked to look into health and safety problems. She found many things she thought were against safety rules. These included workers being exposed to dangerous materials. She also found faulty breathing equipment. Samples were not stored correctly. Karen believed there were not enough showers. This could increase the risk of workers getting contaminated.
The union said that the Kerr-McGee plant made faulty fuel rods. They also said the plant faked inspection records. The union believed the company risked employee safety. They threatened to take legal action. In the summer of 1974, Karen spoke to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). She told them she had been contaminated. She said safety standards had dropped. This was because production had sped up. Other union members were with her when she spoke.
Plutonium Contamination
On November 5, 1974, Karen checked herself for contamination. She found her body had almost 400 times the legal limit of plutonium. She was cleaned at the plant. She was sent home with a kit to collect samples. The gloves she used had plutonium inside. But the gloves had no holes. This suggested the plutonium came from somewhere else.
The next morning, Karen went to a union meeting. She again tested positive for plutonium. She had only done paperwork that morning. She was given a more intense cleaning. On November 7, she entered the plant. She was found to be dangerously contaminated. She was even breathing out contaminated air. A health physics team went to her home. They found plutonium traces on many surfaces. This included the bathroom and refrigerator. Her house was later cleaned. Some of her belongings had to be destroyed. Karen, her boyfriend Drew Stephens, and her roommate Dusty Ellis were sent for testing. They went to Los Alamos National Laboratory. This was to see how much plutonium was in their bodies.
People wondered how Karen got contaminated over these three days. She thought it happened at the plant. Kerr-McGee's managers said Karen contaminated herself. They said she did this to make the company look bad. A book called The Killing of Karen Silkwood by Richard L. Rashke says plant security was very loose. Workers could easily sneak out plutonium pellets. The book also said the type of plutonium found in Karen's body came from an area she had not been to in four months. These pellets had been stored in the plant's vault.
Karen's Death
Karen said she had gathered documents for her claims. These included company papers. She decided to share this evidence with the public. She contacted David Burnham, a New York Times journalist. He was interested in her story. On November 13, 1974, Karen left a union meeting. It was at the Hub cafe in Crescent. Someone at the meeting later said Karen had a binder and documents with her. Karen got into her Honda Civic. She drove alone toward Oklahoma City. It was about 30 miles (48 km) away. She was going to meet Burnham and Steve Wodka. He was an official from her union's national office.
Later that evening, Karen's body was found. Her car had gone off the road. It hit a culvert on the side of State Highway 74. This was about 0.11 miles (180 m) south of West Industrial Road. The car did not have the documents she had been holding. She was declared dead at the scene. It was thought to be an accident. The police report said she fell asleep while driving.
Some journalists have suggested that another car hit Karen's car from behind. They believe this was done to cause an accident. Skid marks from Karen's car were on the road. This suggests she was trying to get back onto the road.
Investigators also saw damage on the back of Karen's car. Her friends and family said this damage was not there before the crash. The crash was a front-end collision. So, it did not explain the damage to the back of her car. A close look at the back of Karen's car showed paint chips. These could only have come from another car hitting it from behind. Karen's family said she had no other accidents with the car. The 1974 Honda Civic was new when she bought it. No insurance claims were filed for it.
Karen's relatives also confirmed she took the missing documents to the union meeting. She placed them on the seat next to her. Her family said she received several threatening phone calls. These calls came very shortly before her death. The idea that foul play was involved has never been proven.
Because of worries about contamination, the Atomic Energy Commission asked for tests on Karen's organs. This was done by the Los Alamos Tissue Analysis Program.
Public concerns led to a federal investigation. It looked into the plant's security and safety. National Public Radio reported that this investigation found 20 to 30 kg (44 to 66 lb) of plutonium were missing from the plant.
Kerr-McGee closed its nuclear fuel plants in 1975. The Department of Energy (DOE) said the Cimarron plant was clean and shut down in 1994.
The PBS show Frontline made a program called Nuclear Reaction. It included parts of Karen Silkwood's story. The program's website has a summary called "The Karen Silkwood Story." This program discussed the risks of nuclear energy. It also raised questions about companies being responsible for their actions.
Silkwood vs. Kerr-McGee Lawsuit
Karen's father, Bill, and her children sued Kerr-McGee. They claimed the company was negligent. The trial began in 1979. It lasted ten months. This was the longest trial in Oklahoma history at that time. Gerry Spence was the main lawyer for Karen's family. Other key lawyers were Daniel Sheehan, Arthur Angel, and James Ikard. William Paul was the main lawyer for Kerr-McGee.
Karen's family showed evidence that her autopsy proved she was contaminated. This contamination was from plutonium at her death. To prove it happened at the plant, former employees gave evidence.
The company's lawyers used Dr. George Voelz as an expert witness. He was a top scientist at Los Alamos. Dr. Voelz said the plutonium in Karen's body was within legal limits. The company's lawyers later suggested Karen was a troublemaker. They thought she might have poisoned herself. After the final arguments, Judge Frank Theis told the jury: "If you find that the damage to the person or property of Karen Silkwood resulted from the operation of this plant ... defendant Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corporation is liable...."
The jury decided that Kerr-McGee should pay $505,000 in damages. They also added $10,000,000 in punitive damages. This was a penalty to punish the company. Kerr-McGee appealed this decision. A federal court reduced the payment to $5,000. This was for the value of Karen's property losses at her home. The court also removed the punitive damages.
In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court brought back the original verdict. This was in the case Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corp. The court ruled that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) power to set safety rules did not stop states from using their own laws to deal with harm. Kerr-McGee then settled out of court for $1.38 million. This was about $3.75 million in 2021 money. The company still did not admit they were at fault.
Karen Silkwood in Movies and Books
Richard L. Rashke wrote a book called The Killing of Karen Silkwood (2000). In his book, he claimed that officials investigating Karen's death received death threats. One investigator disappeared mysteriously. Rashke wrote that the lawyers for Karen's family were followed. They were threatened with violence and physically attacked. Rashke suggested that 20 kg (44 lbs) of plutonium were missing from the plant. He believed it was stolen by a "secret underground plutonium-smuggling ring." He claimed many government agencies were involved. This included the CIA, Britain's MI5, and Israel's Mossad. The book suggests the United States covered up details about Karen's death. It also claimed her assassination was carried out.
The 1983 film Silkwood tells Karen's life story. It shows the events that happened because of her activism. The screenplay was written by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen. Meryl Streep played Karen. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her role. Cher played Karen's best friend, Dusty Ellis. Cher was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award. Mike Nichols was nominated for Best Director. The screenwriters, Ephron and Arlen, were nominated for Best Writing.
One of the stories in the novel and film Cloud Atlas is similar to Karen's story. A journalist named Luisa Rey (played by Halle Berry) investigates a fictional nuclear plant. She gets help from a whistleblower named Isaac Sachs (played by Tom Hanks). In a nod to Karen Silkwood, Luisa Rey survives a car crash. This crash was planned to kill her. Isaac Sachs is murdered by an airplane bomb.
See also
