Reply #4: I can answer the first question.

[longship]

My response to this is.... So what!? No big deal.

Nuclear reactors on campus are research tools. They are the same class of device as a particle accelerator. They are small, research-based devices and typically have small yields and little military value.

As a physics graduate I recongnize the need to have such facilities. In spite of prospective dangers you can trust me that they are operated safely and are completely necessary for any graduate physics curriculum.

Any nuclear facility has safety and security which is well beyond what is required. In the 1970's I worked at Argonne National Laboratory. Behind the pleasant smiles of the polite guys at the gate there was a significant security infrastructure. The security was quiet, even subdued. If one didn't know what was going on within the borders of the lab, you would never know that it was so well secured. I wouldn't want to be the one to test that security.

Security at nuclear facilities on campus would have the same character. Subdued and more potent than is visible.

Just my interpretation.

on edit: the amount of fissionable products and byproducts at such a research facility as described would be strictly limited and monitored.

There are radiation monitors all over the halls of these facilities. If somebody tried to take out any dangerous stuff all hell would break loose. I don't recommend that anybody try it.