Kansas officials, Evergy and a Washington-based nuclear energy company want to bring another, though smaller and safer, nuclear reactor to the state, and De Soto is in the running as a possible location for it. De Soto city officials on Thursday night expressed interest in the potential facility, though they stopped short of fully endorsing it.
For now, that only means the city is looking to learn more, not that it’s approved a nuclear energy project within city limits. The city council voted 4-0 to send a letter of interest to the Kansas Department of Commerce. Councilmember Danny Lane was absent.
“We’re not endorsing or committing to a project, just trying to keep the door open to gain additional information,” Mayor Rick Walker said. “I don’t know whether a nuclear facility is right for De Soto or not, but I know that we won’t know if we don’t have the conversation.”
Councilmember Rhonda Patterson shared some hesitation about the project.
“I would say I’m very skeptical about the project,” Patterson said. “But, also having a background in education, I would be willing to get more education in something like that myself.”
Both the Kansas Department of Commerce and De Soto Economic Development Council encouraged the city to send a letter of interest on the project.
Below is a copy of the letter.
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Open in new tab Kansas leaders already signaled their support
In September, Evergy and the Kansas Department of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding with TerraPower — a nuclear energy company headquartered in Washington state and co-founded by Bill Gates — to explore the possibility of developing a nuclear facility in Kansas.
Gov. Laura Kelly and U.S. Senators Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran backed the MOU to look at potential sites in the state. However, that only means the company will consider locations in Kansas, not that it’s committed to building another nuclear facility in Kansas.
“My administration has always supported an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach when meeting the energy needs of Kansas citizens and businesses,” Kelly said in a September press release. “We need to explore all available sources to power the future of our great state, and I’m pleased we’re using innovative methods to do just that.”
TerraPower developed a Natrium reactor, which uses a liquid sodium coolant. The technology is not pressurized, like water-cooled reactors, making it safer, the company states on its website.
“We would welcome a continuing dialogue with the Kansas Department of Commerce, Evergy, and TerraPower representatives to evaluate potential benefits, impacts, and community alignment,” the city’s letter states. “Any future consideration would be subject to public input, further review, and action by the governing body.”
Other communities are competing for TerraPower
Other communities in Kansas expressed interest in the project, including:
- Coffey County, where Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station operates,
- Lyon County and the city of Emporia,
- and the city of Hutchinson.
“When you look at our position with the power loads that we have here, and the potential power loads in new projects, it makes sense that if an effort’s being made to locate such a facility in the state of Kansas, they might want to locate close to where the power demand is,” said City Administrator Mike Brungardt.
Two residents spoke during public comment at the Thursday meeting against sending the letter of interest.
“We need to be good neighbors with other counties, other cities,” said Mike Caldwell of De Soto. “Nuclear power and De Soto don’t really belong in the same sentence, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think our neighbors around us would feel too kindly to having a nuclear power plant at Ad Astra.
“I believe there’s a place for nuclear power,” he added. “It’s going to be what we need in the future to get away from so much carbon, along with solar and wind turbines, but having a nuclear power plant within a metropolitan area that’s over two million people, that just doesn’t make sense.”
While the letter opens the dialogue between the city, state, Evergy and TerraPower, city officials await word from the state on next steps.
