In which 1983 film did Meryl Streep play the role of a worker at a nuclear factory who risks her life to protect workers from safety hazards?

Meryl Streep earned an Academy Award nomination for her gripping performance as the title character in this 1983 biographical drama. The film is based on the true story of Karen Silkwood, a chemical technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site in Oklahoma. As the movie depicts, she became increasingly alarmed by the dangerous lack of safety protocols at the plutonium plant, which she believed were responsible for the repeated contamination of workers, including herself.

The film chronicles her courageous efforts to gather evidence of the company’s wrongdoing, intending to expose the safety violations to a journalist from The New York Times. Her activism placed her in direct conflict with factory management and put her life at risk. The story’s haunting power comes from its real-life conclusion: in 1974, Karen Silkwood died in a mysterious car crash on her way to meet the reporter. The documents she had compiled were never found.

Directed by Mike Nichols, the film also features acclaimed performances from Kurt Russell as Karen's boyfriend and Cher as her roommate, a role that also earned an Oscar nomination. The movie was a critical success, bringing the story of this pivotal whistleblower to a global audience and making her name synonymous with the fight for corporate accountability and worker safety.