Wolf Creek Generating Station
CountryUnited States
LocationHampden Township, Coffey County, near Burlington, Kansas
Coordinates38°14′20″N 95°41′20″W / 38.23889°N 95.68889°W / 38.23889; -95.68889
StatusOperational
Construction beganMay 30, 1977 (1977-05-30)
Commission dateSeptember 3, 1985 (September 3, 1985)
Construction costUS$5.771 billion (2007)[1]
Owner(s)Evergy (94%)
Kansas Electric Power Cooperative (6%)
Operator(s)Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (WCNOC)
Nuclear power station
Reactor typePWR
Reactor supplierWestinghouse
Cooling sourceCoffey County Lake (5,090 acres (2,060 ha), pumped from the John Redmond Reservoir and the Neosho River)
Thermal capacity1 × 3565 MWth
Power generation
Units operational1 × 1200 MW
Make and modelWH 4-loop (DRYAMB)
Nameplate capacity1200 MW
Capacity factor101.29% (2017)
84.90% (lifetime)
Annual net output10,648 GWh (2017)
External links
Websitewolfcreeknuclear.com

Wolf Creek Generating Station logo

Wolf Creek Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located near Burlington, Kansas. It occupies 9,818 acres (39.73 km2) of the total 11,800 acres (4,800 ha) controlled by the owner. Its namesake, Wolf Creek, was dammed to create Coffey County Lake (formerly Wolf Creek Lake), and provides water for the condensers.

History

Construction started on May 30, 1977[2] and it was commissioned on September 3, 1985, at a cost of US$5.771 billion (in 2007 value).[1]

This plant has one Westinghouse pressurized water reactor that came online on June 4, 1985. The reactor was rated at 1,170 MW(e). A new turbine generator rotor was installed in 2011 that increased electrical output to approximately 1250 MW(e). The reactor output remained unchanged at 3565 MW (th).

On October 4, 2006, the operator applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a renewal and extension of the plant's operating license.[3] The NRC granted the renewal on November 20, 2008, extending the license from forty years to sixty.[4]

On January 13, 2012, at 2 p.m., due to a breaker failure and an unexplained loss of power to an electrical transformer, the plant experienced an automatic reactor trip and loss of offsite power that lasted 3 hours.[5]

The nuclear plant was a target of an unsuccessful cyberattack by hackers in 2017,[6] leading to indictments in 2021.[7]

Generation (MWh) of Wolf Creek Generating Station[8]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual (Total)
2001 888,118 803,086 833,873 855,348 878,063 853,966 873,972 874,542 853,335 887,293 857,462 887,593 10,346,651
2002 888,357 799,266 608,945 41,519 623,618 849,793 872,827 873,897 850,467 886,975 858,367 887,671 9,041,702
2003 831,072 801,210 885,555 854,714 882,299 850,274 872,780 805,442 848,540 462,620 -12,790 807,951 8,889,667
2004 883,896 721,298 881,977 853,917 879,963 846,910 837,005 810,094 842,667 833,054 856,664 885,291 10,132,736
2005 618,685 716,081 884,712 209,235 329,357 846,487 869,375 871,289 847,341 884,564 857,647 886,172 8,820,945
2006 886,275 800,601 887,370 855,828 883,329 846,602 869,974 869,842 847,422 155,136 560,443 887,447 9,350,269
2007 887,999 801,514 881,725 858,366 879,108 847,151 870,017 866,697 848,194 882,895 859,137 886,333 10,369,136
2008 718,760 827,848 463,799 -8,726 437,666 846,724 870,912 865,376 847,526 883,317 858,061 885,897 8,497,160
2009 885,692 797,548 872,111 786,064 819,918 843,949 869,102 700,728 848,675 242,473 213,432 888,856 8,768,548
2010 882,985 803,221 653,886 857,453 883,604 841,746 863,933 865,496 847,441 426,678 855,523 773,746 9,555,712
2011 883,547 796,991 498,103 -6,128 -25,629 7,448 773,763 873,223 861,524 896,251 864,063 895,732 7,318,888
2012 357,418 -11,005 82,077 869,918 888,242 855,202 837,483 877,801 861,144 900,138 863,023 903,483 8,284,924
2013 901,523 72,505 -7,587 327,330 611,551 842,579 882,785 883,930 292,148 582,132 874,919 904,486 7,168,301
2014 900,328 816,789 184,526 -10,781 494,964 862,500 890,551 885,769 867,614 904,318 852,083 909,723 8,558,384
2015 909,980 786,680 -7,224 -16,253 761,833 862,928 885,723 887,146 864,625 904,321 880,443 909,976 8,630,178
2016 910,276 845,851 907,060 878,858 903,726 860,319 877,570 884,908 24,882 -5,464 245,456 912,600 8,246,042
2017 912,867 824,017 910,867 874,267 907,330 869,095 882,648 893,575 870,511 906,549 884,220 912,041 10,647,987
2018 912,386 822,973 875,324 -7,752 351,294 865,039 885,908 887,951 870,926 908,933 884,279 911,028 9,168,289
2019 911,787 823,970 911,644 881,581 906,465 870,229 890,153 893,065 570,296 -7,683 683,874 912,353 9,247,734
2020 911,525 791,946 911,466 882,418 906,774 867,876 889,607 892,895 871,477 908,720 840,655 907,123 10,582,482
2021 911,616 823,212 676,419 0 428,191 646,808 893,228 778,463 870,455 853,713 855,977 836,650 8,574,732
2022 913,572 801,347 857,428 825,608 899,673 867,172 763,282 890,127 869,681 135,914 7,823,804
2023

Ownership

The Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation, a Delaware corporation, operates the power plant. The ownership is divided between the Evergy (94%), and Kansas Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (6%).

Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.[9]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Wolf Creek was 5,466, a decrease of 2.8 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 176,656, a decrease of 1.7 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Emporia (30 miles to city center).[10]

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Wolf Creek was 0.0019%, or 1 in 55,556, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[11][12]

References

  1. 1 2 "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Wolf Creek, United States Of America". World Nuclear Association. World Nuclear Association. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Wolf Creek Generating Station - License Renewal Application". Operating Reactor Licensing. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). December 1, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Wolf Creek licence extended 20 years". World Nuclear News. November 21, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Regulators to inspect nuclear power plant in Kansas". Power Engineering. PennWell Corporation. January 25, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  6. ↑ Finger, Stan (July 6, 2017). "Hackers targeting Wolf Creek and other nuclear power plants". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  7. ↑ Rosenberg, Martin (April 6, 2022). "Inside Story: Kansas, Cyber Spies, Nuclear Power and the Ukraine War". Flatland.
  8. ↑ "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  9. ↑ Archived October 2, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Bill Dedman, Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, NBC News, April 14, 2011, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42555888/ns/us_news-life/t/nuclear-neighbors-population-rises-near-us-reactors/#.XPHsAehJEgw Accessed May 31, 2019.
  11. ↑ Bill Dedman, "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk," NBC News, March 17, 2011, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42103936 Accessed April 19, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 25, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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