Wolf Creek Generating Station
Wolf Creek Generating Station, a nuclear power plant located near Burlington, Kansas, occupies 9,818 acres (40 km²) of the total 11,800 acres (4,800 ha) controlled by the owner. Wolf Creek, dammed to create Coffey County Lake (formerly Wolf Creek Lake), provides not only the name, but water for the condensers.
| Wolf Creek Generating Station | |
|---|---|
| |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Hampden Township, Coffey County, near Burlington, Kansas |
| Coordinates | 38°14′20″N 95°41′20″W |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | May 31, 1977 |
| Commission date | Sep 3, 1985 |
| Construction cost | $5.771 billion (2007 USD)[1] |
| Owner(s) | Evergy (94%) Kansas Electric Power Cooperative (6%) |
| Operator(s) | Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (WCNOC) |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PWR |
| Reactor supplier | Westinghouse |
| Cooling source | Coffey County Lake (5,090 acres (2,060 ha), refilled by pumping water from the John Redmond Reservoir and the Neosho River) |
| Thermal capacity | 1 × 3565 MWth |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 1 × 1200 MW |
| Make and model | WH 4-loop (DRYAMB) |
| Nameplate capacity | 1200 MW |
| Capacity factor | 101.29% (2017) 84.90% (lifetime) |
| Annual net output | 10,648 GWh (2017) |
| External links | |
| Website | Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation |
 | |
This plant has one Westinghouse pressurized water reactor which came on line 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.[2] The NRC granted the renewal on November 20, 2008, extending the license from forty years to sixty.[3]
The nuclear plant was a target of an unsuccessful cyberattack by hackers in 2017.[4]
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.[5]
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).[6]
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.[7][8]
References
- "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- "Wolf Creek Generating Station - License Renewal Application". Operating Reactor Licensing. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). December 1, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
- "Wolf Creek licence extended 20 years". World Nuclear News. November 21, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
- Finger, Stan (July 6, 2017). "Hackers targeting Wolf Creek and other nuclear power plants". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
- Archived October 2, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- 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.
- 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.
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2011-04-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
- Official website (404)
- Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE):
- Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant, Kansas (April 26, 2012)
- Kansas (estimates) (version February 16, 2017)
- "Wolf Creek 1 Pressurized Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2017-01-04.