Kansas Explores Advanced Nuclear Power with TerraPower Partnership
Utility partnership with Bill Gates-backed company opens door for state's second nuclear facility
Evergy signed an agreement with TerraPower and the Kansas Department of Commerce on Sept. 23 to explore placing TerraPower's Natrium advanced reactor and molten-salt energy storage system somewhere in Evergy's Kansas service territory. The memorandum of understanding represents a feasibility and siting study, not a commitment to build, as the utility and state officials evaluate whether advanced nuclear technology could help meet growing electricity demand while maintaining grid reliability.
Communities across Kansas have begun expressing interest in hosting the facility. The Hutchinson city council and chamber are exploring a letter of interest and potential sites, citing industrial-zoned land, proximity to high-voltage transmission lines, ample water supply and a workforce trained for the energy sector. The Emporia City Commission unanimously authorized a letter of support for siting the reactor in Lyon County, with local officials highlighting the region's history with energy projects like Wolf Creek Generating Station and wind farms.
Greg Loving
Greg Loving
The Natrium reactor is often grouped with small modular reactors, but it operates at utility scale with 345 megawatts of base electrical output. The design's distinguishing feature is its ability to boost power to roughly 500 megawatts using on-site thermal storage when demand peaks. By comparison, Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station near Burlington, Kansas' only operating nuclear plant, generates approximately 1,250 megawatts.
The feasibility study will examine how a Natrium plant would serve Evergy customers and integrate with the regional power grid. Unlike traditional nuclear plants that run at constant output, the Natrium design can adjust electricity generation based on demand and complement renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Reporting in Kansas indicates a site decision could come in 2026, though that timeline remains tentative as the evaluation process continues.
The partnership between TerraPower, Evergy and the Kansas Department of Commerce will focus on identifying and evaluating candidate sites across the utility's service area. Site selection will depend on multiple factors including community support, the ability to obtain licensing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, access to existing infrastructure and proximity to grid interconnection points.
Evergy serves 1.7 million customers across Kansas and Missouri through four service areas, two in each state. The utility company, headquartered in Kansas City with a major administrative office in Topeka, emerged from the 2018 merger of Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy's Kansas City Power & Light. Its territory covers roughly 28,000 square miles in eastern Kansas and western Missouri.
The company has received regulatory approval for significant generation expansion. In July, the Kansas Corporation Commission approved settlements allowing Evergy to recover costs for two combined-cycle natural gas plants and a solar facility. The Viola plant in Sumner County, expected to be operational by 2029, will cost nearly $790 million. The McNew plant in Reno County, slated to open in 2030, will cost more than $800 million. Both plants will be jointly owned by Evergy Kansas Central and Evergy Missouri West.
These expansions come alongside recent rate increases. Missouri regulators approved a base-rate increase of just under 7% for Evergy Missouri West effective Jan. 1, 2025, which serves more than 340,000 customers. In Kansas, Evergy has requested approval from the Kansas Corporation Commission for a $196.4 million rate increase, a 9% hike that would raise average residential bills by about $13 per month starting in September 2025. The utility says the increase is needed to cover infrastructure investments and rising operational costs, although the request explicitly excludes costs associated with Evergy's upcoming natural gas plants and Panasonic's EV battery facility in Kansas. Panasonic's massive EV battery plant in De Soto requires enormous infrastructure investment from Evergy. The 4-million-square-foot facility will consume 200-250 megawatts of electricity—equivalent to powering a small city. The KCC ultimately approved a smaller, $128 million increase on Sept. 25, 2025.
As artificial intelligence continues to drive a surge in electricity demand nationwide, infrastructure upgrades have become increasingly urgent. The Kansas Corporation Commission has warned the utility to pace its investments to better align with load growth and maintain affordability for customers.
Greg Loving
Evergy already operates nuclear power in Kansas and brings decades of experience to the TerraPower partnership. The utility is the majority owner of Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station, holding a 94% stake. Wolf Creek has operated continuously since 1985, employing 750 full-time workers and powering more than 800,000 homes. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission extended its operating license through 2045.
TerraPower, founded by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates in 2008, is developing advanced nuclear technology designed to complement renewable energy and provide carbon-free electricity. The company broke ground in June 2024 on its first Natrium demonstration plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming, near a retiring coal-fired power station. The $4 billion project is receiving approximately $2 billion in support from the U.S. Department of Energy through its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. The demonstration plant is scheduled to begin generating electricity in 2030 and will be the first commercial-scale advanced nuclear reactor in the United States.
All this comes as the United States is experiencing explosive growth in electricity demand, driven largely by artificial intelligence and the data centers that power it. A federal study projects that data centers will consume between 325 and 580 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2028—representing up to 12% of total national demand, up from roughly 4.4% in 2023. To put that in perspective, the increase equals the continuous power capacity of up to 66 large nuclear plants. This surge in demand, following decades of stagnation, is forcing utilities across the country to reconsider their generation portfolios and accelerate plans for new power plants that can provide reliable, around-the-clock electricity to support AI computing infrastructure.
Kansas lawmakers have responded to this national trend by creating new economic development incentives designed to attract data centers to the state. The strategy appears to be working. Evergy CEO David Campbell told investors in May that the utility is in final negotiations with two large customers for data center projects representing 1.3 gigawatts of electricity demand—equivalent to the needs of roughly a million homes. One customer is evaluating Evergy's Kansas service territory while another existing data center customer is considering expansion in Missouri. Campbell said the utility expects to see impacts on demand growth from these customers beginning in 2027 and 2028, continuing into the next decade. Beyond those near-term projects, Evergy is in advanced discussions with prospective customers requiring 3 gigawatts of capacity and has preliminary talks underway for an additional 7 gigawatts.
Greg Loving
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