To be located 1.8 miles (2.9 km) offshore from the Little Egg Harbor and Great Bay (about 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Atlantic City), the plants were to be on man-made islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The islands themselves and the massive concrete breakwaters would be built in a factory on Blount Island near Jacksonville, Florida; they would then be floated by ship to the plant site.[2] The plants were first envisioned in 1969 by an engineer at PSE&G and the reactors were ordered in 1972 for operation starting in the mid-1980s.[2] However, due to increasing costs and environmental protests, the plants were canceled in 1978.