Topeka ? The Legislature on Wednesday approved a bill that supporters said would encourage expansion of nuclear energy in Kansas.

“The world is moving toward nuclear power,” state Rep. Don Myers, R-Derby, said.

Senate Bill 586 would require the Kansas Corporation Commission to allow an electric utility to raise its rates to recover prudent expenditures in the development stages of a new nuclear generation facility.

It also would allow the construction costs for a nuclear facility to be included in customer rates before the plant is operating.

Opponents said the bill gave too much to utilities. “We are transferring risks here from the investors to the ratepayers, and I don’t think that’s a prudent policy,” said House Democratic Leader Dennis McKinney of Greensburg.

But both the House and Senate approved the bill to send it to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for consideration.

Kansas has one nuclear power plant — Wolf Creek power plant near Burlington, which would be the most likely location for any expansion of nuclear energy.