(U-WIRE) UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – More than two weeks after a minor leak of “slightly… (U-WIRE) UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – More than two weeks after a minor leak of “slightly radioactive water” was reported at Pennsylvania State University’s Breazeale nuclear reactor, the reactor is still leaking, a university spokeswoman said Monday.

Authorities discovered the leak during a routine check of the pool water levels that naturally decrease with evaporation.

Officials drained the south end of the reactor pool into a holding tank two weeks ago to inspect possible sources of the leak, public information manager Vicki Fong said. However, the pool continues to leak at a rate of about 13 gallons per hour. Two weeks ago, the pool was leaking at a rate of 16 gallons an hour, according to live.psu.edu. The reactor holds 71,000 gallons of water.

Officials have now secured a contractor to do long-term repairs on the reactor, Bill Dreibelbis, manager of health and environmental programs at Penn State, said. The contractor has experience working in nuclear facilities and will work on both the north and south ends of the reactor pool.

Dreibelbis said the leak is not harmful to the Penn State community or the people in the Radiation Science and Engineering Center.

Test results have shown the water to be “significantly below federal drinking water standards,” according to a press release.

“It’s not considered a health risk at all at this point,” Dreibelbis said, adding that it won’t become a health risk because of the low radiation levels. “The radiation level is just above the drinking water standard. By the time it would get to any water table, it would not even be a measurable quantity [of radiation] above regular water,” he said. -Danielle Vickery, Daily Collegian (Penn State)

(U-WIRE) BOSTON – In the aftermath of the Red Sox’ World Series victory on Sunday night, 37 fans celebrating outside Fenway Park – many of whom were college students – were arrested by Boston Police Department officers, covered in riot gear from head to toe, who kept a tight control on fans before riots could get out of hand.

Though crowds paled in comparison to the celebration that followed the Red Sox’ 2004 World Series victory, excited and often inebriated fans overturned cars, punched through windows and knocked over newspaper dispensers.

Although police said they could not comment on the number of college students arrested, records show students from schools including Boston University, Northeastern University and Tufts University were among those whose nights ended in handcuffs.

At about 1 a.m., officers informed crowd members near Kenmore Square, some of whom had climbed trees and awnings or crowd surfed atop the outstretched arms of fellow fans, that they were assembled illegally and must disperse or risk being arrested.

“For any crowd of five or more armed or 10 or more unarmed, you need a permit for an assembly,” Chrispin said. “Obviously, we allowed people some time to celebrate. A lot of the crowds were people being unruly. Once crowds got unruly, we dispersed them for everybody’s safety.”

In 2004, police resorted to using pellet guns to control crowds following the Red Sox’ victory over the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, but police did not use such tactics this year.

In the celebrations following the Red Sox’ clinching of the American League pennant last week, college students – including at least one Boston University student – were many of the 26 fans arrested. – David Brand, The Daily Free Press (Boston U.)

(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Squad was deployed to a University of Southern California area shopping center after two fake clusters of dynamite were found in a car Monday.

The fake explosives were found to be part of a suicide bomber Halloween costume belonging to an Army recruiter working at the shopping center.

A 911 call at about 12:45 p.m. reported a suspicious object inside the vehicle in the middle of the parking lot, officials said. The initial officer responding to the scene called the bomb squad, which opened the car door with a Slim Jim after visually identifying the objects as fake explosives, Detective J. Chu of the LAPD major crimes division said. The majority of the parking lot remained closed for about an hour.

“In this day and age, if you look suspicious with wires sticking out of your backpack, first responders are taught to take a head shot,” Chu said. “First responders have to take these things very seriously.”

The devices in question were two clusters of red cardboard tubes attached to hemp string and covered in black tape – an apparent faux-dynamite accessory to the car owner’s Halloween costume. – Aaron Berry, Daily Trojan (USC)