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It's sad that it's been remembered that way. The alternate viewpoint that Jacksonville was this close to having the world's leading decarbonization gigafactory

It's sad that it's been remembered that way. The alternate viewpoint that Jacksonville was this close to having the world's leading decarbonization gigafactory would be how I wish it was remembered. Since the customers for the plants bailed and the effort failed, I can see why people would rather think poorly of the effort. I posted on the Jacksonville subreddit a while back seeking photos of the crane and other stuff. They referred me to the local library where there's a apparently a huge collection of info. It's not available online but I'm going to have to visit sometime.

cool_dude85 4y ago
It doesn't help that there is a modern-day parallel ready to go, as the utility is currently invested in a new nuclear plant in Georgia that I think is coming up on 10 years behind schedule and untold billions over budget.
- acidburnNSA 4y ago
  Yeah, that definitely does not help. The struggles there with ramping back up a production supply chain and the appropriate knowledge to deliver those components just emphasizes how important it is to concentrate that knowledge into fewer small groups that can deliver plants around the world. The assembly line idea for nuclear plants is basically necessary.
ethbr0 4y ago
Do you know which library? I'm temporarily local, and should be able to go through and maybe digitize (or at least photograph) some documents, if any exist. PS: Thanks for the research and excellent writeup. Fascinating piece of history I'd never heard about!
- acidburnNSA 4y ago
  That would be awesome. If you do this please get ahold of me. One user told me: > Public Library downtown in the Loyd Sandgren photo collection. I have seen photos of the "floating" plant under construction. Tough finding it though the librarians may be helpful. And another said: > Go to the special collections of the downtown library ask for Blount island nuclear development files.
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    Those work for starting points. I'll see what I can do. Does the Contact Us on whatisnuclear.com lead back to you?
    - acidburnNSA 4y ago
      yup it just emails me directly. Oh but when I reply it usually gets filed to spam (especially on gmail) because I host my own email server... so check your spam!

cool_dude85 4y ago

It doesn't help that there is a modern-day parallel ready to go, as the utility is currently invested in a new nuclear plant in Georgia that I think is coming up on 10 years behind schedule and untold billions over budget.

acidburnNSA 4y ago
Yeah, that definitely does not help. The struggles there with ramping back up a production supply chain and the appropriate knowledge to deliver those components just emphasizes how important it is to concentrate that knowledge into fewer small groups that can deliver plants around the world. The assembly line idea for nuclear plants is basically necessary.

ethbr0 4y ago

Do you know which library? I'm temporarily local, and should be able to go through and maybe digitize (or at least photograph) some documents, if any exist. PS: Thanks for the research and excellent writeup. Fascinating piece of history I'd never heard about!

acidburnNSA 4y ago
That would be awesome. If you do this please get ahold of me. One user told me: > Public Library downtown in the Loyd Sandgren photo collection. I have seen photos of the "floating" plant under construction. Tough finding it though the librarians may be helpful. And another said: > Go to the special collections of the downtown library ask for Blount island nuclear development files.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  Those work for starting points. I'll see what I can do. Does the Contact Us on whatisnuclear.com lead back to you?
  - acidburnNSA 4y ago
    yup it just emails me directly. Oh but when I reply it usually gets filed to spam (especially on gmail) because I host my own email server... so check your spam!