Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce took 13 community members and leaders on a visit to the Wolf Creek Generating Station in Burlington Monday as part of a community tour.The group traveled almost 90 miles to Coffey County for the trip that consisted of a Westar Energy-sponsored lunch, a brief presentation and video at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Learning Center and a tour of the nuclear plant.
Chamber Executive Director Lindsay Madison said initial talks to arrange the community tour began more than a year ago with former mayor and Westar employee Ken Lunt. She said Lunt stressed the importance of forging a good relationship with the community and Westar.
On top of that, Madison said she thought the tour would be interesting and worthwhile and she wasn’t disappointed.
“I think the whole process (nuclear energy) is amazing,” Madison said. “We had a good variety of people who went from government people to people who are just interested in the nuclear energy part of it. It helps you understand the cost and the fluctuations in price and the effect on businesses and government.”
During the brief presentation and video about the plant, the group was given the opportunity to ask questions.
Local businessman Mark McCoy took advantage inquiring about the operation of the plant and energy output.
Others asked questions about the economic impact the plant has on the area, the number of employees working there and general questions about the process of nuclear fission.
The group traveled to the actual plant, which was about 10 miles away, via school bus.
Upon arrival, tour-goers went through airport-like security that included walking through full-body scanners to test for explosives.
Once past security, everyone donned orange hard hats, clear safety goggles, ear plugs and gloves. Separated into groups with Wolf Creek employees as their guides, the groups were led through the facility and even offered a chance to peek at the control room which monitors radiation exposure.
Before exiting, the entire group was required to walk through another set of scanners, this time checking for radiation exposure.
At the end of the day, former state Rep. Shirley Palmer said the tour was a “wow experience.”
“For our group, every time we went to a new area it was like ‘wow,’ ‘wow,’ ‘wow,'” Palmer said.
Westar Energy Business Manager Kent Meyers said what these tours do is provide a glimpse for residents and homeowners of where their “dollars go.”
“… It shows people what Westar goes through as far as security and keeping up with the times in terms of making the turbines more efficient,” Meyers said. “I mean they’re paying our salaries and it gives them an idea of what we go through as a company.”
Meyers said out of the handful of tours he’s participated in, he’s never heard a negative response.
“Everybody talks about food and utilities going up and this gives them an idea of how that affects them. Like 20 years ago, something cost half a million and now it costs $1 million,” Meyers said. “It’s like people see and say, ‘oh their prices are going up; now I see why our bills might be going up.'”
Wolf Creek hosts one tour a week and groups are limited to 15 pre-approved people. The Department of Homeland Security provides the security for the plant, which has drastically increased since Sept. 11, 2001, and only grants business-related tours.
Participants, including chamber members, were required to pass a background check to enter the plant. While Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation operates the plant, it is a subsidiary of three owners: Kansas City Power & Light, Kansas Gas and Electric and Kansas Electric Power Cooperative. Operating since 1985, Wolf Creek is Kansas’ only nuclear power plant and provides service to 800,000 customers.
Community members on the trip included Mayor Jim Adams and City Manager Dave Martin, Assistant City Manager Susan Brown; Palmer; County Commissioner Allen Warren; McCoy; businessmen Dallas Smith, John Mowry, Jim Banwart Jr. and his son, Jake; Madison; Chamber Board Chairman Bryan Holt; and chamber member Roy Hanken.
Angelique McNaughton 