Disney has announced details on an upcoming episode of its “IMPACT x Nightline” series called “What Happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes”.

This week, “IMPACT x Nightline” goes inside a renewed investigation into the 1974 death of Karen Silkwood, a young mother and chemical technician who was outspoken about health and safety at a nuclear fuel plant owned by her employer, Kerr-McGee. Silkwood died in a single-car crash while on her way to meet The New York Times reporter David Burnham when authorities say she fell asleep at the wheel just miles from a union meeting she had just attended. She’d agreed to deliver sensitive documents that were never found after the crash.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding Silkwood’s death captured national headlines, stumped generations of investigators and journalists, and even inspired an Oscar-nominated film starring Meryl Streep, Cher and Kurt Russell.

Now, via new reporting, many exclusive on-camera interviews and the discovery of lost tapes and new information documented in ABC Audio’s podcast “Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery,” “IMPACT x Nightline” investigates if Silkwood’s death was an accident or something more sinister.

The episode, led by ABC News senior investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky, features new interviews with Silkwood’s relatives, including son Michael Meadows and two of her sisters, Linda Vincent and Rosemary Smith, as well as interviews with her friend and former co-worker Don Gummow, investigative journalists who have followed the case for 50 years and found the tapes Bob Sands and Mike Boettcher, and more.

This episode features never-before-heard audio recordings with law enforcement, plus a hi-tech examination of evidence from the scene of the crash and an exclusive interview with one investigator who believes other people were involved in the car crash that killed Silkwood.

In this new episode, there are additional interviews with the following:

• Larry Dellinger, former Oklahoma Highway Patrol lieutenant
• Karen Pipkin Guerrero, daughter of A.O. Pipkin
• Steve Irwin, crash investigator
• Steve Wodka, former OCAW Union official
• David Burnham, former reporter at The New York Times
• James Noel, former employee, Kerr-McGee

ABC News Studios’ “IMPACT x Nightline: What Happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes” will stream on Thursday, 5th December 2025 on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+.   Previous episodes of “IMPACT x Nightline” are also available to stream now on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+.

Are you going to check out this episode of “IMPACT x Nightline: What Happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes”?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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