SHINE Medical Technologies breaks ground on first medical isotope facility in Janesville

Adam Duxter by Adam Duxter

Copyright 2019 by Channel 3000. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SHINE Medical Technologies broke ground on its second building, and first medical isotope facility in the city of Janesville today.

When completed, the 43,000 square-foot building will be home to eight of SHINE’s medical isotope production systems. These systems will help to provide molybdenum-99, an isotope used for life-saving research.

“I feel great,” said Greg Piefer, CEO and founder of SHINE. “Today has been a long long time in the works. It’s been a tremendous amount of work to get here.”

When the building is complete, the company will look to hire 60 new employees.

Hundreds of people are at SHINE Medical Technologies in Janesville for the groundbreaking of a new building.

What this means for Rock County as a whole, tonight on #News3Now at 5 pic.twitter.com/U3eFyBdxKM

— Adam Duxter (@News3Adam) May 9, 2019

Janesville economic development director Gale Price says for the city, it’s gratifying to watch the growth SHINE has had.

“It’s like seeing a child grow, in some ways,” Price said.

Piefer, a Wisconsin native and UW-Madison graduate, said he hadn’t considered Janesville as a potential home until the city made an offer for SHINE to come there.

“When the GM plant closed, a lot of people wondered if the city was going to survive,” Piefer said. “People wrote books on it. Now, here’s Janesville prospering nnot just because of SHINE, but because city leaders are showing the same tenacity that we did.”

Price said it’s tremendous to watch the city grow and change along with SHINE.

“I’ve never seen any other Midwestern community be able to diversify their economy the way we have over the last 10 years, and that’s amazing,” he said.

The new facility is scheduled to be completed within a year, and open with full staffing the year following.

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COPYRIGHT 2020 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.