The plan to modernise and redevelop the nuclear medicine department's imaging service, radiopharmacy and laboratories will involve the department being relocated to a new building close to the main entrance at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
The unit is expected to be operational by summer 2012.
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said: "The nuclear medicine unit at Ninewells provides a Tayside-wide diagnostic and therapeutic service, carrying out around 7,000 imaging studies each year on three gamma cameras."