A shuttered Canadian nuclear reactor that normally produces radioisotopes crucial to a variety of medical diagnoses will reopen soon.

Emergency legislation passed by the Canadian government late Tuesday (Dec 11) will allow the reactor to open for 120 days and resume production of the isotopes.

Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was apparently none too happy with the parties involved in the reactor's closing. "I can certainly assure the House that when this is all behind us," Harper told the Toronto Star, "the government will carefully examine the role of all actors in this incident and make sure that accountability is appropriately restored."

The reactor's prolonged closure has caused a shortage of the isotope technetium-99 in hospitals, where it is used to diagnose cancers, heart and kidney problems among other ailments. Scientists I've contacted who use technetium-99 in their research have not yet experienced interruptions to their work.

The company that operates the reactor originally estimated that the reactor would not reopen until January, 2008.