SHINE gets $35 million federal boost in plans to produce medical radioisotopes

Neil Johnson, The Janesville Gazette, Wis.
·2 min read

Oct. 18—JANESVILLE — SHINE Technologies is getting another multimillion-dollar financial boost in its quest to reach commercial production of nuclear medicines in Janesville.

According to an announcement by the National Nuclear Security Administration, SHINE is being awarded $35 million to continue moving toward private, domestic production of medical molybdenum-99 and cancer treatment medicines in Janesville.

SHINE is one of a handful of private, U.S. companies that the federal government has awarded funding to produce medical radioactive isotopes without using highly enriched uranium. The funding comes through a competitive program administered in June 2020 by the National Nuclear Security Administration.

It's part of an ongoing push by the federal government since 2012 to encourage domestic production of nuclear medicines as an alternative to using foreign nuclear reactors that rely on highly enriched uranium—the main radioactive material used to make nuclear weapons.

SHINE was screened alongside four other companies in the U.S. that are pursuing domestic production of nuclear medicines. Earlier, Northstar Medical Radioisotopes in Beloit received funding through the same program.

SHINE recently announced it's changed its company name from SHINE Medical Technologies to SHINE Technologies. The trimming of the word "medical" from its corporate identity, the company said, is to reflect SHINE's plans to pursue nuclear fusion in recycling of nuclear waste and clean energy production—separate tracks that veer away from medicine.

But on Janesville's south side, SHINE's immediate focus remains in building out and commercializing a landmark, nuclear particle accelerator-driven production plant for moly-99 and technetium-99—compounds that are used in medical testing and cancer therapies.

Alongside future forays into nuclear fusion energy and nuclear waste recycling, SHINE plans a "twin" European radioisotope production facility similar to the Janesville facility now being built.

The National Nuclear Security Administration designated its awards to go to companies who'd launch commercial nuclear medicine operations by 2023.

SHINE officials have continued to project that the Janesville facility will be operational sometime in 2022.