SHINE’s Chrysalis production building, under construction in October 2022. (Photo: SHINE)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the final supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) for SHINE Technology’s application for a license to operate a medical isotope production facility in Janesville, Wis.

After weighing the benefits—including environmental, economic, and technical—of the facility against environmental and other impacts, NRC staff is recommending that unless safety issues mandate otherwise, a license should be issued to the company.

Mo-99 production: The NRC said it will consider both the EIS and the final safety evaluation report, still under review, for the SHINE application in deciding whether to issue the license.

If approved, the 30-year operating license will allow SHINE to produce up to 8,200 6-day curies of molybdenum-99 per week. Mo-99 subsequently produces technetium-99m, an isotope used in over 30 different diagnostic medical imaging procedures. A 6-day curie is the measurement of the remaining radioactivity of Mo-99 six days after it leaves the processor’s facility.

Background: SHINE filed an application with the NRC in July 2019, seeking a license to operate the facility, dubbed the Chrysalis, which is currently under construction. The company previously received a construction permit for the facility in February 2016.

The final supplemental EIS, issued on January 31, updates the prior environmental review by the NRC staff for the Chrysalis’s construction permit application and only covers matters that differ from the previous review or that reflect significant new information concerning matters discussed in the construction EIS.