NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes takes a big step forward on its Beloit production facility.

The company installed two, first-of-their-kind electron beam accelerators that will be used to create the medical imaging radioisotope moly-99, used in detecting cancer and heart disease.

President and CEO Steve Merrick said they will begin testing the equipment later this year and hope to get FDA approval to sell their isotopes by the start of 2023.

Their production facility on Gateway Boulevard has two separate chambers for the accelerators to run continuously, speeding up electrons to 99-point-nine percent of the speed of light to shoot at the isotope.

NorthStar’s process does not use uranium, which Merrick says makes it environmentally friendly and reduces waste.

He envisions their facility eventually expanding to create other radioisotopes using the same method with different elements.