Essay Example on Karen Silkwood: Nuclear Safety Activist and Whistleblower Martyr

Karen Silkwood was a well-known nuclear safety activist and a martyr when it comes to whistleblowers. This is according to the roles she played when fighting for nuclear safety. However, not everyone believed that she was a martyr; her employer's thought that she was also a lunatic who decided to smear plutonium in her fridge's bologna. She was a lab technician in the Kerr-McGee plutonium chemical plant in Crescent, Oklahoma, back in the 1970s (Rashke, 2000). Silkwood was famous for her work. She was worried about things she saw when it comes to issues that quality control and tax safety programs in her company that we're able to put workers at high risk of being exposed to radioactive material, which was contaminated. This made her achieve the rank of being a member of the bargaining committee after an election at the plant's union. She was given a chance to testify on her accounts in the U.S atomic energy commission concerning the unsafe working conditions for the employees in the plant.

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Silkwood was facing backlash from the Kerr-McGee company when fighting for the rights of the employees, and this led to her death. According to events that took place on November, 13th 1974 when Silkwood was just 28 years old when she was going to a meeting which was being held in New York with a reporter from the New York Times, she was traveling with a folder which had photos and documents which was meant to show a demonstration of safety problems (Hannam & Bassett, 2000). The bad news is that she could not get to the meeting because her car had an accident when she hit a concrete culvert wall, which killed her immediately when she swerved away from the road (Hannam & Bassett, 2000). The folder full of evidence of photos and documents was never found in the accident scene (Hannam & Bassett, 2000). This was a clear indication that the accident was planned, and the significant intention was to destroy the evidence that she was ready to expose.

The government and some organizations saw the role that Silkwood played in society. The good news is that some organizations like the union brought in private investigators to establish the cause of the accident. According to evidence found from a private investigator who was assigned to work on the case under the union, the body of Silkwood had several dents caused by the accidents, but what raises many questions is the dents found on the back of her car. This dent was a clear suggestion that she had been pushed off the road. According to reports found from an autopsy, it showed that there were some traces of prescription sedatives and alcohol in the victim's blood (Rashke, 2000). The police made a report that she was asleep while she was driving, and that made the incident to be ruled as an accident caused by careless driving. According to Several circumstances that involve the accidents, one can understand that they are bizarre and lack the basis to show if it was an accident. This issue attracted the attention of international media and made news globally.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is good to understand that Karen Silkwood's case has been in progress for years, even after her demise. This is because it has impacts on contemporary issues today, as the rights of employees who are working on chemical plants and the compensations and precautions that the companies are taking to end these problems. Another reason why the case is still in progress is that nobody has ever proven the cause of her death. Different researchers are coming up with various theories concerning the cause of death, which makes it complicated and mysterious.

References

Hannam, J., & Bassett, J. (2000). The Death of Karen Silkwood. Oxford University Press.

Rashke, R. L. (2000). The killin of Karen Silkwood: the story behind the Kerr-McGee plutonium case. Cornell University Press.