Trailer: 'Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery'

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20/20 3 min 5 speakers 6 chapters transcribed
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What happened to Karen Silkwood?

Mike Boettcher 0:29
Fifty years ago, Karen Silkwood got in her car alone.

Why is Karen Silkwood's story significant?

Bob Sands 0:33
She'd agreed to deliver sensitive documents to a New York Times reporter.
Mike Boettcher 0:39
She never made it. And those documents she was reportedly carrying? were never found.
Unknown Speaker 0:45
Do you think somebody killed her? There's no question in my mind that someone killed her that night. I think they were trying to stop her in order to get the documents.

Is there a conspiracy behind Karen Silkwood's death?

Mike Boettcher 0:53
I'm Mike Boettcher. I've covered the world for Network TV and returned home to Oklahoma to investigate the one story I can't get out of my mind.

What were the safety violations at the Kerr-McGee Corporation?

Bob Sands 1:04
And I'm Bob Sands. I've been covering the Silkwood story since I read the wire copy on the air in Oklahoma City the night that Karen died in that car crash.
Unknown Speaker 1:14
Bluntly stated, she was spying on her employer, gathering evidence her union wanted to document charges of safety violations at the Kerr-McGee Corporation's nuclear plant.
Mike Boettcher 1:24
For years, we've run down leads.
Bob Sands 1:27
And in 1994, 20 years after Karen Silkwood's death, a friend gave me a secret tape for safekeeping. An Oklahoma highway patrolman had launched his own risky investigation behind the thin blue line.
Unknown Speaker 1:42
I'm becoming increasingly concerned about the security at the FBI office and that, as I was told in the beginning, I might be in danger.
Bob Sands 1:51
I got the tape on one condition. No one else could hear it until the people named in it were dead. That time has come.
Mike Boettcher 2:00
We also found a trove of private investigators tapes in a storage locker and tracked down physical evidence from the night of Karen's crash.
Bob Sands 2:09
My God.
Mike Boettcher 2:10
Holy mackerel, there's black stuff in it still. Yeah.
Bob Sands 2:14
Oh my gosh. The accident investigator believed he had a smoking gun. He told his daughter on his deathbed to hang on to it. We have the bumper. Something's not right with this story. I think it needs to be looked into further.
Mike Boettcher 2:33
50 years later, what we've learned about the life and death of America's first nuclear whistleblower. Radioactive, The Karen Silkwood Mystery, a new narrative series from ABC Audio. Coming November 12th, wherever you get your podcasts.
This is the next phase in my therapeutic work. Nicole Kidman returns for the Hulu original, Nine Perfect Strangers, Season 2. Breathe in. This is safe. We take you back to a core trauma. Breathe in. Breathe out. She is manipulating us. Breathe in. Breathe out. Why are you resisting? Is it too late to get a refund? The all-new season of Nine Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu and Disney+. New episodes Wednesdays.

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