Medical Isotope Production Facility
Janesville, Wisconsin
Client: SHINE Medical Technologies

Project Highlights:

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission compliant, safety-related production facility.
• 55,000-square-foot structure designed for safe-shutdown earthquake, tornado, and aircraft impact.
• First-of-a-kind facility will use diluted uranium formerly used in nuclear weapons to produce life-saving medical isotopes.

Project Description:

Sargent & Lundy is working with SHINE on the design and licensure of a new medical isotope production facility. This first-of-a-kind facility will utilize neutron accelerators to turn low-enriched uranium, created by diluting former nuclear weapons, into medical isotopes such as molybdenum-99. Moly-99 is the essential component in medical imaging procedures used to diagnose conditions such as heart disease and stage cancer.

Project Scope:

Starting in 2011, SHINE authorized Sargent & Lundy to perform a variety of services, including:

• NRC licensing support.
• Nuclear and environmental calculations.
• Conceptual balance-of-plant system layout and design.
• Detailed structural and architectural design.

Early support from Sargent & Lundy helped SHINE establish its facility layout, further its nuclear process design, and secure financial investments necessary to fund construction.

In 2018, SHINE authorized Sargent & Lundy to perform the detailed structural and architectural design of the safety-related production facility and associated administrative building. Detailed design of the main structural and architectural systems was substantially completed in early 2019. By meeting this deadline, Sargent & Lundy supported SHINE’s Final Safety Analysis Report submittal to the NRC in July 2019, followed by the start of safety-related construction in November 2019.

Sargent & Lundy continues to support SHINE with:

• NRC licensing activities.
• Detailed design of ancillary structural systems and components.
• Construction support activities (both on-site and remote).
• Drawing development for an extensive system of embedded conduits.
• Design of pipe, electrical raceway, and HVAC supports.

Schedule Milestones:

• NRC construction permit application: Submitted June 2013; permit issued February 2016.
• Site groundbreaking ceremony: May 2019.
• Successful nuclear process prototype testing: June 2019.
• NRC operating license application: Submitted July 2019, determination on permit expected by October 2021.
• Completion of weather-tight building construction: Expected early 2021.
• Begin production of molybdenum: Fourth-quarter 2022.

Read more about our nuclear power services.