Northstar Expands Moly-99 Production Capacity
CCI’s Design-Build Process Continues to Help Northstar Medical Radioisotopes Expand in Beloit
Utilizing the design-build method streamlines the overall construction process. CCI’s simplified approach is based on years of lessons-learned experiences and strives to foresee and eliminate potential challenges. The project schedule can be fast-tracked by having certain design and construction phases coincide and long lead items ordered sooner.
In the early planning stages of Northstar’s Phase 3 project CCI, along with key project partners including PSBA Architects, The Morse Group and 1901 Inc. met with Northstar’s leadership to collaborate and finalize the expansion design. Having the build-team members involved in the early stages of the project ultimately increases efficiency and continuity throughout the design and construction phases. Working together the team advocated for Northstar from the very start providing structural, process, and constructability advice.
The ability to have a single point of contact throughout both the design and construction phases of a project not only creates a unique advantage, it also forms a collaborative strategy that enhances project outcomes. The design-build process offers the best balance of function, cost, safety, and efficiency for owners.
Here is a video of the massive 1,700 yard concrete pour took place at the Northstar site in March.
NORTHSTAR CONCRETE VIDEO
For further information about Northstar’s progress, below is a recent article by the Beloit Daily News.
NorthStar construction, growth strong amid COVID-19
By AUSTIN MONTGOMERY Beloit Daily News Staff Writer
May 6, 2020
This aerial photo shows the in-progress electron accelerator building in the foreground and the completed processing facility and corporate office at Northstar’s campus in Beloit. Work on the accelerator building continues without interruption despite COVID-19.
Anthony Wahl
BELOIT — Company growth at NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes remains uninterrupted by COVID-19, according to CEO Steve Merrick.
Work continues at the headquarters on a new electron accelerator production building to expand capacity of the company’s non-uranium domestic supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99).
“Construction has continued without interruption,” Merrick said.
The accelerator project coincides with the isotope processing facility that saw construction in 2019. The processing facility, built directly next to the in-progress accelerator building, will help the company avoid shipping delays between irradiation and processing of Mo-99. Equipment installation at the processing facility remains underway, Merrick added.
The accelerator facility will further expand NorthStar’s production chain in partnership with the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) in Columbia, Missouri, assisting in weekly production timed to coincide with weekly market demand once operational.
“We continue to operate at full capacity in producing domestic Mo-99 for our customers in the United States,” Merrick said. “In fact, we have provided reliable supply for nearly 18 months since becoming commercially available.”
The project’s central components, the electron accelerators, have been constructed and have moved to the assembly floor in Belgium. Delivery is expected by the end of 2020, Merrick said.
Equipment installation and commissioning are expected in 2021, followed by validation through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2022.
“We would therefore expect to start commercial operations in 2023,” Merrick said.
