Dec. 16—BUNKER HILL — An Indiana-based company is set to invest $26 million to install two particle accelerators near Grissom Air Reserve Base that will produce medical isotopes to treat cancer.

Nuke Medical Inc., which will do business as SpectronRx, plans to construct up to 50,000-square-feet in new buildings at the Grissom Aeroplex that will house the cyclotrons and other equipment.

The company plans on hiring around 25 new employees who will be paid on average $50 an hour.

SpectronRx CEO John Zehner said the isotopes can currently only be obtained from the U.S. Department of Energy, which produces them in three different labs. That means there's a limited supply of the isotopes.

Zehner said his company will research and develop techniques to independently produce the isotopes, which use alpha radiation to treat all kinds of different cancers.

"It's been done before, but there's only limited publications about it, so we're looking at a couple different methods," he said.

The new facilities will be built near AZIstopes Corp., which opened last year producing diagnostic and therapeutic isotopes using a 280,000-pound cyclotron machine. The $70 million facility employs around 50 people.

SpectronRx played a pivotal role in developing that project. Now, the company will develop its own facility to produce different kinds of isotopes using two smaller cyclotrons.

Zehner said his company and AZIstopes will work closely together sharing ideas and personnel, but the two facilities are independent businesses.

Even so, the new particle accelerators coming to the Aeroplex mark the next step in turning the area into a kind of medical campus. AZIsotopes said last year it plans to add even more buildings and production at the site in the coming years.

Zehner said the SpectronRx facilities should be fully operational in around two years, with construction starting next year. He said they will move the project forward as quickly as possible to create the isotopes, which are being used in clinical trials for new cancer treatments.

"There's a need for this isotope, so we would like to start producing it as soon as possible," he said.

Last month, the Miami County Economic Development Authority passed a resolution recommending a 70% reimbursement on real property taxes paid by the company through a tax increment financing district for 10 years.

Zehner said the company has also applied for state economic development assistance to complete the project.

Carson Gerber can be reached at 765-854-6739, carson.gerber@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter @carsongerber1.