Workers plan to implode part of the St. Johns River Power Park at 8 a.m. Friday as demolition of the North Jacksonville facility continues, JEA announced in a news release.
There will be no road closures or public viewing areas. The power park is at 11201 New Berlin Road.
The implosion will demolish four selective catalytic reactors next to the coal-fired plant’s boilers. The reactors were added to the 1980s-era plant in the mid-to-late 2000s to reduce pollution.
The reactors are 244 feet high and required 11,731 cubic yards of concrete and 5,963 tons of steel to build. The debris will be cut into pieces and recycled.
JEA said work to decommission the plant is 40% complete and anticipates completion by June 2020.
The final implosion planned at the power park, of the boilers and 640-foot-tall smokestack, is planned for the summer.
The first phase of the project, the implosion of 464-foot-tall concrete cooling towers, was in June.
Last year, Total Wrecking & Environmental of Tonawanda, New York, was awarded the demolition contract including an additional scope to demolish equipment and other structures and to restore the site to an industrial standard for a total bid of $17,737,420.
The St. Johns River Power Park started producing electricity in March 1987. The plant, co-owned by JEA and Florida Power & Light Co., was shut down Jan. 5, 2018.
JEA said closing the plant, which consumed 4.5 million tons of coal a year, reduced its carbon footprint by 30 percent.
JEA spokeswoman Gerri Boyce said previously it will cost about $68 million to demolish the plant and remediate the site.
