Shine Medical Technologies said today it won clearance from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct a medical isotope manufacturing facility.

Shine Medical said the company is the only U.S. medical isotope producer to have reached this permission stage with the NRC since 1960 for the 57,000 square foot facility in Janesville, Wisc.

“This is the 1st time in over 50 years a medical isotope plant of this kind has been granted a construction permit. We’ve developed a greener, safer, and cheaper way to produce these life-saving isotopes on a global scale. Once operational we expect the Janesville facility will improve the lives of over 1 billion people over its lifetime. It’s a very exciting time at Shine,” CEO Greg Piefer said in prepared remarks.

The approval follows 4 combined years of data collection and safety analysis between Shine and the NRC, the company said.

“Shine diligently followed the clear regulatory path provided by the NRC, resulting in the regulatory clearance to build our facility in Janesville,” regulatory affairs and quality veep Jim Costedio said in a press release.

The company said its work is supported by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s molybdenum-99 program which seeks to develop reliable and sustainable domestic production of molybdenum-99 without using highly enriched uranium.