The Woman Who Took on a Nuclear Company , Then Mysteriously Died

In 1974, 28-year-old Karen Silkwood worked at Kerr-McGee’s plutonium fuel plant in Oklahoma. A union activist, she raised alarms about safety failures, radioactive contamination, and alleged falsification of quality-control records, then testified to the Atomic Energy Commission about the risks facing workers.On November 13, she was driving to meet a New York Times reporter and a union official, reportedly carrying documents she believed could expose the company’s practices. She never arrived. Her car left Highway 74 near Crescent, Oklahoma, struck a concrete structure, and Silkwood was killed; the folder of documents she was said to be carrying was never found.Investigators officially ruled it a single-car accident, concluding she may have fallen asleep at the wheel after taking prescription medication. But disputed physical evidence, the missing papers, and her prior plutonium contamination left enduring suspicions of foul play, suspicions that have never been proven. Her family later settled a lawsuit against Kerr-McGee for $1.38 million, with the company admitting no liability.