Karen Silkwood’s death, 50 years on

[Karen Gay Silkwood (February 19, 1946 – November 13, 1974)]

November 13, 2024 marked 50 years since the tragic, suspicious death of Karen Silkwood, nuclear whistleblower and Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) organizer at Kerr-McKee’s Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site, a nuclear weapons complex production facility in Crescent, Oklahoma. The Christic Institute Archives on the Karen Silkwood case remain a testament to the inspiration of her courageous stand against radioactivity risks to workers, and safety shortcuts by the nuclear industry.

Beyond Nuclear had an information table in memory of Karen Silkwood at the Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Campaign national gathering in Washington, D.C. from November 14-17, 2014, beginning the day after the 40th annual commemoration of Silkwood’s death.

The table featured copies of the books The Killing of Karen Silkwood: The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Case by Richard L. Rashke, as well as Who Killed Karen Silkwood? by Howard Kohn.

The table also featured a Silkwood informational display (graphic design by Yuko Tonohira; research by Kevin Kamps).

The display was inspired by the presence at the Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Campaign gathering of Bob Alvarez and Kitty Tucker (1944-2019). Alvarez and Tucker were very early supporters of Silkwood’s family, including her young, orphaned children, in the immediate aftermath of her death, and for years thereafter. This includes right up to the present: on November 8, 2024, Bob Alvarez published an article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, entitled “The death of Karen Silkwood–and the plutonium economy.”

Upon learning of the 2014 table and display, Silkwood’s daughter contacted Beyond Nuclear, expressing her thanks. We were very honored and privileged by her gesture.

Silkwood, the 1983 drama starring Meryl Streep and Cher, won multiple Oscar nominations, and brought Karen Silkwood’s story to the attention of many millions.

Kay Drey, Beyond Nuclear board president emerita, penned a pamphlet aimed at protecting nuclear workers against radioactivity risks: Your Nuclear Work Place: Know Your Risks, Know Your Rights. Coincidentally, Kay gave her first public speech against nuclear power on the very day that Karen Silkwood died.