Producer, Mike Nichols provides us with a powerful look into the life of an American nuclear plant worker in the 1983 movie “Silkwood.” Starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell and Cher, “Silkwood” depicts the true story of Karen Silkwood, a chemical technician and union activist at Kerr-McGee nuclear facility in Crescent, Oklahoma. Knowing that the plant is three months behind in meeting a contract’s deadline, Silkwood suspects that their work is being compr0mised in order to meet the deadline. Silkwood strives to ensure that she and her co-workers are safe. As an activist, she raised concerns about corporate practices as they relate to quality control and safety procedures that put herself and her coworkers at risk for radioactive contamination.
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She requests this of her manager and is told no but if she found someone to switch her shift with this this would be fine. At first, no one she asked would switch. Silkwood is heard saying after an alarm went off that if the tests (alarms) were real, then she could have the time off. At the last minute, a fellow worker agrees to switch shifts. Upon her return to work, Silkwood learns of a contamination occurred while she was away. Silkwood is blamed and told that she did it to get the weekend off. Her section was contaminated and needed to be cleaned. The company never accepted blame for contamination but instead always pointed elsewhere. If the company were to accept blame, then it would be stating that the contamination was its fault, and this, according to a union leader would never happen.
After witnessing another one of her coworker’s contamination and the follow up scrubbing, Silkwood became more concerned about company safety practices. She advises the worker to get a nasal smear and to be told the truth regarding the extent of her contamination. It wasn’t long before Silkwood found herself “cooked.” She is thoroughly scrubbed and monitored for radiation. Silkwood discovers that plutonium causes cancer and a myriad of other illnesses. She again suspects lax safety regulations at
She requests this of her manager and is told no but if she found someone to switch her shift with this this would be fine. At first, no one she asked would switch. Silkwood is heard saying after an alarm went off that if the tests (alarms) were real, then she could have the time off. At the last minute, a fellow worker agrees to switch shifts. Upon her return to work, Silkwood learns of a contamination occurred while she was away. Silkwood is blamed and told that she did it to get the weekend off. Her section was contaminated and needed to be cleaned. The company never accepted blame for contamination but instead always pointed elsewhere. If the company were to accept blame, then it would be stating that the contamination was its fault, and this, according to a union leader would never happen.
After witnessing another one of her coworker’s contamination and the follow up scrubbing, Silkwood became more concerned about company safety practices. She advises the worker to get a nasal smear and to be told the truth regarding the extent of her contamination. It wasn’t long before Silkwood found herself “cooked.” She is thoroughly scrubbed and monitored for radiation. Silkwood discovers that plutonium causes cancer and a myriad of other illnesses. She again suspects lax safety regulations at