Wolf Creek’s official 40th anniversary isn’t until next week, but a big celebration is coming at the facility Friday.
Friday morning is reserved for marking Wolf Creek’s past and future, which includes at least 20 additional years of generating power for eastern Kansas residents and businesses after a recent extension through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Cleve Reasoner says the roots of Wolf Creek go much earlier than the official opening in 1985.
Wolf Creek currently generates 1,250 megawatts, or about 20 percent of power generated across Kansas. Reasoner says nuclear plants like Wolf Creek are “the big shoulders on the grid,” providing safe and stable power day and night. With Evergy promoting new gas-fired facilities and a solar facility to the Kansas Corporation Commission, Reasoner says Wolf Creek will maintain a critical role in power production.
Wolf Creek still has refueling outages every 18 months. Besides allowing for refueling and different maintenance projects, those outages also bring a lot of long-term temporary employees to the area for the needed work. Under non-outage situations, Wolf Creek employes anywhere from 750 to 1,000 employees. The worker count doubles during outages.
Anniversary activities begin at 9 am. Numerous state dignitaries are expected, including Governor Laura Kelly and legislative leaders.
