5. NUCLEAR PLANT

KCP&L owns 47% of 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 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 historically paid the DOE a quarterly fee of one-tenth of a cent for each kWh of net nuclear generation delivered and sold for the future disposal of spent nuclear fuel. In May 2014, this fee was set to 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 announced that it was evenly divided on whether to take affirmative action to overturn or uphold the board's 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 to the extent of appropriated funds. With the available funds, the NRC was able to complete its technical review of the Yucca Mountain application but was not able to resume the licensing hearing.

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 Decommissioning Trust Fund

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



	March 31			December 31
	2017			2016
Decommissioning Trust		(millions)
Beginning balance January 1		$	222.9		$	200.7
Contributions		0.9			3.3
Earned income, net of fees		1.1			4.1
Net realized gains		0.2			0.3
Net unrealized gains		7.4			14.5
Ending balance		$	232.5		$	222.9

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



	March 31, 2017												December 31, 2016
	Cost Basis		Unrealized Gains			Unrealized Losses				Fair Value			Cost Basis			Unrealized Gains			Unrealized Losses				Fair Value
	(millions)
Equity securities	$	93.9		$	68.6		$	(0.8	)		$	161.7		$	93.3		$	62.1		$	(1.5	)		$	153.9
Debt securities	63.2			2.4			(0.4		)		65.2			63.4			2.3			(0.5		)		65.2
Other	5.6			—			—				5.6			3.8			—			—				3.8
Total	$	162.7		$	71.0		$	(1.2	)		$	232.5		$	160.5		$	64.4		$	(2.0	)		$	222.9

The weighted average maturity of debt securities held by the trust at March 31, 2017, was approximately 8 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 March 31	2017			2016
	(millions)
Realized gains	$	0.3		$	0.7
Realized losses	(0.1		)	(0.7		)