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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Miles Leverett

Engineer

Hanford, WAOak Ridge, TNX-10 Graphite Reactor
Manhattan Project VeteranScientist
Hanford Listen to Miles Leverett’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Before WWII, Miles Leverett was a young Ph.D chemi­cal engineer working for Humble Oil & Refining Co. in Houston. He was contacted by his boss, and signed on to the Manhattan Project, going to work on the helium-cooled reactor proposal at the Met Lab. In addition, he was part of design engi­neering for the mechanical aspects of the Hanford reactors, and was initially in charge of the engineering group attached to X-I0, the small air-cooled reactor at Oak Ridge. After the war, Leverett continued a distinguished career in nuclear engi­neering, a field he pioneered, with an emphasis on reactor safety.
 

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