JANESVILLE, Wis., Aug. 9, 2019 – SHINE Medical Technologies LLC today announced it has received a $15-million award from the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA). The award was made by the agency as part of its effort to establish a reliable, U.S.-produced supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), the most commonly used medical isotope, without the use of highly enriched uranium. The cooperative agreement with the DOE/NNSA requires SHINE to provide $15 million of matching funds.
Medical isotopes are used in heart stress tests, cancer staging and therapeutics, and other medical applications. Chronic global shortages of Mo-99 routinely and significantly affect the diagnosis and treatment of patients in the United States and around the world.
SHINE broke ground in May on an isotope production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin. It will be the first facility of its kind in the world, using the company’s patented technology to produce Mo-99 and other isotopes used in more than 40 million procedures every year. When the facility becomes operational after the company receives approval to operate from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the plant will be capable of producing the majority of U.S. demand for Mo-99. The NRC’s review is expected to take up to 24 months from its acceptance of SHINE’s application.
“We are grateful for DOE/NNSA’s award as SHINE continues its progress toward production of Mo-99 and other important medical isotopes,” said Greg Piefer, SHINE’s founder and CEO. “HINE’s recently-submitted operating license application to the NRC brings us one step closer to that goal. The recent DOE/NNSA award directly supports SHINE’s continued advancement as we work to supply lifesaving medical tracers and therapeutics to an underserved, growing global market.”
Medical isotopes are radioisotopes that are used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) is a radioisotope that decays into the diagnostic imaging agent technetium 99m (Tc-99m). The workhorse of nuclear medicine, Tc-99m is used in more than 40 million medical imaging procedures each year, primarily in stress tests to diagnose heart disease and to stage cases of cancer. SHINE was founded to deploy a safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology to produce a variety of medical isotopes, including Mo-99. Roughly one percent of all Mo-99 in the world decays every hour, meaning it must be produced continuously. Current production is limited to only a handful of government-owned nuclear research reactors, the majority of which are overseas.
Based in Janesville, Wisconsin, SHINE deploys its safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly fusion technology in a stepwise approach. Its systems are used to inspect industrial components in aerospace, defense, energy and other sectors. SHINE’s proprietary medical isotope production processes create non-carrier-added lutetium-177 and are expected to create molybdenum-99. In the future, SHINE plans to scale its fusion technology to help solve one of energy’s toughest hurdles by recycling nuclear waste. Through a purpose-driven and phased approach, SHINE aims to generate fusion power to deliver clean, abundant energy that could transform life on Earth. Want to learn more about SHINE? Follow us on social media @shinefusion and sign up for our email newsletter to follow us on our journey!
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