Although I did not have the chance to go to M.I.T last week, I was able to get a fair amount of information on their website. The MIT nuclear reactor, which is very old by the way (nearly 50 years old) is according to them, a mean of research (material, medical, etc.) The reactor itself has two systems: a cooling system and a monitoring system.
Monitors take automatic actions, such as automatically sealing off the containment building ventilation, should they detect abnormal radiation levels. For the cooling system, the reactor produce heat which is converted into electricity. There is a primary and a secondary water system which prevent radioactivity). The water that flows through the core, in addition to being a moderator essential to the operation of the reactor, also serves as a coolant. That leads us to the fission process which is when the nucleus receives a neutron that breaks it in to parts; of course, a lot of energy is generated in this process.
Finally, there is the description of the core of the reactor. The core consists of 27 positions, most of which are filled with fuel elements, such as the one shown in position C-9. The remaining two to four positions are filled with either a solid aluminum “dummy” element or an In-Core Experiment. 
The location of the core is within two concentric tanks; the use of anti-siphon valves to isolate the core from the effect of breaks in the coolant piping; a core-tank design promotes natural circulation in the event of a loss-of-flow accident; and there is the presence of a full containment. Although these features make it “an exceptionally safe facility” like they stated on their website, the MIT nuclear reactor still has materials that can be used to make atomic bombs; and that has to count as some kind of leverage for the U.S government. I believe that this could give birth to an interesting subject on the matter.