Construction of NorthStar’s new radioisotope facility is underway

Kathy Mahdoubi | | Health Imaging | Molecular Imaging

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes announced July 16 that the company had broken ground on the 50,000-square-foot production facility and headquarters in Beloit, Wis.

The facility will be aiding production of medical isotopes in alliance with the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) in order to develop a reliable source of Molybdenum-99 within the United States via neutron capture.

“Today’s groundbreaking is an exciting milestone for NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes and an important step toward achieving the goal of establishing a reliable and commercially viable domestic source of Mo-99,” said NorthStar president and chief executive officer George P. Messina, in a press release.

Construction is expected to be completed late this year. Once completed, NorthStar will set into motion a production design based on the proprietary RadioGenix isotope separation system, which does not require highly-enriched uranium or a fission process. Waste products from the new assembly are said to be benign.

A second phase of development is set to expand construction on the building—to as much as 110,000 square feet. A third phase will involve the completion of a linear accelerator facility, which will provide the back-end technology for the production of Mo-99.

 

Kathy Mahdoubi

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