Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant is located about 4 miles northeast of Burlington. It is a Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactor producing more than 1.2 million kilowatts of electricity. That is enough electricity for 800,000 homes.

Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant Logo

In 2001, the Wolf Creek reactor ranked first in the Nation in output.  The unit operated at an annual average capacity factor of 101 percent and produced 10.35 billion kilowatthours of electricity.  The Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation operates the power plant.  The ownership is divided between Kansas Gas & Electric Co. (47 percent), Kansas City Power & Light Co. (47 percent), and Kansas Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (6 percent).

1987
Produced a record 16,575,413 Megawatt-hours (Mwh) of electricity in the first two years of operation. That is more than any other American nuclear unit had produced in the first two years of operation.
1989
Wolf Creek is the nations leading electricity producer with 10,109,742 gorss Mwh.
Ranked sixth in total electricity produced among 359 nuclear plants worldwide.
1990
Second lowest production costs in U.S. nucluear plants at $12.85/Mwh.
Achieved a work record 487 days of continuous operation.
Reached 5 million employee-hours worked without a lost-time accident.
1992
Lowest production costs of U.S. nuclear plants at $12.49/Mwh.
1993
Achieved more than 10 million emplyee-hours worked without a lost-time accident.
1994
Lowest fuel costs of U.S. Nuclear plants for the fifth consecutive year.
1995
Achieved Institute of Nuclear Power Operations highest performance rating.
Produced 10,949,705 gross Mwh. of electricity. That is more electricity than any other U.S. single0unit nuclear generating station.
Ninth in the world in electricity production among nuclear units.
Third lowest production costs of U.S. nuclear plants at $11.95/Mwh.
1996
Wolf Creeks colling lake opened to public fishing.
Phase II of the Environmental Education Area (EEA) was completed and opened to the public.
1997
Achieved Institute of Nuclear Power Operations highest performance rating.
Reached nearly 5 million employee-hours without a lost-time accident.
Finalized a five-year contract with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and a six-year contract with the United Plant Guard Workers of America (UPGAW).
1998
Wolf Creek Lake renamed Coffey County Lake, reopened in June for public fishing, under management of Coffey County.
Capacity factor: 99.9%. That is the highest in the plant history.
Gross generation of 10,782,935 megawatts. That is a plant record. WC is also ranked fourth in the world capacity factor and eleventh in generation, according to Nuclear News.
Thermal performance for 1998-1999 is 98%.
Lowest collective radiation exposure for site during 1998 is 11.1 Rem. That is the lowest since 1985, the plants first year of operation.
Wolf Creek employees reached more than 6.7 million hours worked without a lost-time accident. In July, the National Safety Council recognized Wolf Creeks safety record. The plant received the highest award, the Award of Honor, for achieving more than 4.9 million hours without a lost-time injury or illness from July 29, 1995 through December 31, 1997.
Raised more than $106,000 for United Way.
1999
Began Refuel X, April 3, after completing more than 488 days continuous operation. Outage lasted 36 days, 20 and a half hours. This a record for the plat. It is 10 days better than the previous best.
2000
Continuous operated at or near 100 percent power for 395 days.
Entered Refuel XI on September 29 which lasted 38 days, making it the second shortest outage in Wolf Creek history.
2001
In June, Wolf Creek exceeded one million hours worked without a lost-time accident.

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Wolf Creek has heightened their awareness in reguards to security. The health and safety of the public is their utmost priority.

A nuclear power plant is not very different from coal, oil or gas fired plants. The biggest difference between them is that the heat is used to make steam is produced by fission. This is what takes place at a nuclear power plant. Fission is the process of splitting atoms into smaller parts. When atoms are struck by neutrons, the split into even smaller particles. Each time this happens more neutrons come out of the atom and strike other atoms. This process of energy release is called a chain reaction. A nuclear power plant controls this chain reaction by using both boron and control rods to keep it from releasing too much energy too fast. Adding boron to the water and inserting control rods into the reactor vessel controls the fission process by absorbing the neurons. By doing this, it allows the chain reaction to go on for a long time.

To view a show on fission, please click on the link below. After you click on the link, scroll down until you find a picture of a neutron and three atoms. click on play movie and follow the instructions on the screen.

Fission