SHINE Medical Technologies has received approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to begin constructing a plant in Janesville to make a medical isotope needed in about 20 million procedures annually in the United States.

The permit is the latest sign of success in a 20-year quest to make molybdenum-99, an isotope that quickly decays into a form of technetium-99 that is used in SPECT scans, which can detect cancer and assess blood supply to the heart.