4. NUCLEAR PLANT

KCP&L owns 47% of Wolf Creek Generating Station (Wolf Creek), its only nuclear generating unit. Wolf Creek is located in Coffey County, Kansas, just northeast of Burlington, Kansas. Wolf Creek's operating license expires in 2045. Wolf Creek is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), with respect to licensing, operations and safety-related requirements.

Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste

Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Wolf Creek paid the DOE a quarterly fee of one-tenth of a cent for each kilowatt hour (kWh) of net nuclear generation delivered and sold for the future disposal of spent nuclear fuel. KCP&L's 47% share of these costs are charged to fuel expense. The Nuclear Energy Institute, a number of individual utilities, and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners sued the DOE seeking the suspension of this fee. In January 2014, the DOE submitted a proposal to Congress to set the fee at zero and effective May 16, 2014, this fee is set at zero.

In 2010, the DOE filed a motion with the NRC to withdraw its then pending application to the NRC to construct a national repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. An NRC board denied the DOE's motion to withdraw its application. In 2011, the NRC reexamined its decision and ordered the licensing board, consistent with budgetary limitations, to close out its work on the DOE's application. In August 2013, a federal court of appeals ruled that the NRC must resume its review of the DOE's application.

Wolf Creek is currently evaluating alternatives for expanding its existing on-site spent nuclear fuel storage to provide additional capacity prior to 2025. Management cannot predict when, or if, an off-site storage site or alternative disposal site will be available to receive Wolf Creek's spent nuclear fuel and will continue to monitor this activity.

Low-Level Radioactive Waste

Wolf Creek disposes of most of its low-level radioactive waste (Class A waste) at an existing third-party repository in Utah. Management expects that the site located in Utah will remain available to Wolf Creek for disposal of its Class A waste. Wolf Creek has contracted with a waste processor that will process, take title and dispose in another state most of the remainder of Wolf Creek's low-level radioactive waste (Classes B and C waste, which is higher in radioactivity but much lower in volume). Should on-site waste storage be needed in the future, Wolf Creek has current storage capacity on site for about four years' generation of Classes B and C waste and believes it will be able to expand that storage capacity as needed if it becomes necessary to do so.

Nuclear Plant Decommissioning Costs

The Public Service Commission of the State of Missouri (MPSC) and The State Corporation Commission of the State of Kansas (KCC) require KCP&L and the other owners of Wolf Creek to submit an updated decommissioning cost study every three years and to propose funding levels. The most recent study was submitted to the MPSC and KCC in August 2014 and is the basis for the current cost of decommissioning estimates in the following table. Funding levels included in KCP&L retail rates have not changed.



		KCC		MPSC
	(millions)
Current cost of decommissioning (in 2014 dollars)
Total Station		$	765.1	$	765.1
KCP&L's 47% Share		359.6		359.6

Future cost of decommissioning (in 2045-2053 dollars) ^(a)
Total Station		$	2,201.5	$	2,253.1
KCP&L's 47% Share		1,034.7		1,059.0

Annual escalation factor		3.15%		3.22%
Annual return on trust assets ^(b)		N/A		5.68%

^(a)Total future cost over an eight year decommissioning period

^(b)The 5.68% MPSC rate of return is through 2025. The rate then systematically decreases through 2053 to 2.22% based on the assumption that the fund's investment mix will become increasingly conservative as the decommissioning period approaches. KCP&L has not yet filed a rate of return with KCC.

See Note 7 for information regarding the asset retirement obligation to decommission Wolf Creek.

Nuclear Decommissioning Trust Fund

The following table summarizes the change in Great Plains Energy's and KCP&L's nuclear decommissioning trust fund.



	September 30 2014			December 31 2013
Decommissioning Trust		(millions)
Beginning balance January 1		$	183.9		$	154.7
Contributions		2.5			3.3
Earned income, net of fees		2.8			2.7
Net realized gains		0.3			1.7
Net unrealized gains		3.7			21.5
Ending balance		$	193.2		$	183.9

The nuclear decommissioning trust is reported at fair value on the balance sheets and is invested in assets as detailed in the following table.



	September 30, 2014													December 31, 2013
	Cost Basis		Unrealized Gains			Unrealized Losses				Fair Value			Cost Basis			Unrealized Gains			Unrealized Losses				Fair Value
	(millions)
Equity securities	$	86.3		$	46.9		$	(0.4	)		$	132.8		$	83.7		$	44.6		$	(0.6	)		$	127.7
Debt securities	54.3			3.2			(0.2		)		57.3			51.0			2.5			(0.7		)		52.8
Other	3.1			—			—				3.1			3.4			—			—				3.4
Total	$	143.7		$	50.1		$	(0.6	)		$	193.2		$	138.1		$	47.1		$	(1.3	)		$	183.9

The weighted-average maturity of debt securities held by the trust at September 30, 2014, was approximately 7 years. The costs of securities sold are determined on the basis of specific identification. The following table summarizes the realized gains and losses from the sale of securities in the nuclear decommissioning trust fund.



	Three Months Ended September 30						Year to Date September 30
	2014			2013			2014			2013
	(millions)
Realized gains	$	0.3		$	0.4		$	1.0		$	2.3
Realized losses	(0.1		)	(0.3		)	(0.7		)	(0.7		)