Is the woman worker at the terminals an extension of the plutonium-decanning monitors, or is she a germ in the nuclear plant who grows into self-control?
The power of a plutonium speck to enslave her vision and destroy every cell of her body is matched by her power to combat the collusion of state and media. Plutonium Blonde is an intelligence agent at the core of the reactor who wants it to be shut down. She is also Thelma, Karen Silkwood's friend, who lost her skin and her hair. Moving out of her prison of monitors, she sees the paradox. She opposes the religion of male technology and documentary and its claim of 'balance' and 'objectivity'.