What did I find out by examining the cost breakdown of the 'Manhattan Project' aimed at manufacturing nuclear weapons?

by mark6mauno

The Manhattan Project , which researchers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, etc during the World War II conducted the atomic bomb manufacture and development, was a very large project which mobilized many excellent scientists and engineers . After all, the Manhattan Project succeeded in developing the atomic bomb, leading to not only dropping the atomic bomb in Japan but also creating the post-war Cold War structure. Alex Wellerstein , a science historian at Stevens Institute of Technology , has published the results of analyzing funds put into such a Manhattan project.

The price of the Manhattan Project | Restricted Data
http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2013/05/17/the-price-of-the-manhattan-project/

According to the Manhattan project which became a big turning point in the development of atomic bombs, it is estimated that the cost of about 2 billion dollars (220 billion yen) at that rate and about 30 billion dollars (about 2.4 trillion yen) in terms of asset value as of 2012 It was said that it was introduced. Mr. Wellerstein investigated breakdown of expenditure in the Manhattan project.

Oak Ridge (OAK RIDGE) at the top of the table arranged in order of input costs had a uranium enrichment factory of codename such as "K - 25", "Y - 12", "S - 50". Under Hanford Technology Plant (HANFORD ENGINEER WORKS) located under it, plutonium was being produced. SPECIAL OPERATING MATERIALS under the Hanford Technology Factory refers to materials such as graphite and fluorine which are necessary for the whole project. It can be seen that the expenditure spent on the Los Alamos Laboratory where the scientists who participated in the Manhattan Project conducted experiments and researches are much lower than these facilities.

Wellerstein graphed this table as this. While most of the expenditure is spent on Oak Ridge and Hanford Technology Factory, we can see that the cost to the research institution is only slight. Indeed, as much as 80% of the costs are used in factories that produce fissile material , the cost used by the Los Alamos Laboratory is only 4% of the total.

A lot of mention in the development of atomic bombs is about the Los Alamos laboratory which mobilized the best scholars at the time. However, the most important step in the development and manufacture of atomic bombs is not theory or research itself, but it can be read from the graph above that it was in the bomb manufacturing process.

Mr. Wellerstein further classified the breakdown of spending based on the document "The New World" written by American historian Richard Hewlett et al. And the "factory division" and "management division" We analyzed the amount used by the project separately. If you look at that ratio, you can see that three quarters of the total expenditure is used for the construction of factories. Although the atomic bomb that was manufactured by the Manhattan Project and was actually up to explosion is considered to be only three of the gadget · Little Boy · Fatman , most of the money spent on the project is assigned to the weapons production process It is.

People often tend to view that the atomic bomb was created by the power of excessive science. However, Robert Oppenheimer, who actually conducted research at the Los Alamos Laboratory, said, "I think it is important to emphasize the role of the industry in the Manhattan Project, unless there are scientists, no atomic bombs will be created However, scientists alone could not make an atomic bomb. "

Wellerstein seems to think that this point is a very important point in thinking about the production of the atomic bomb. Wellerstein says that "Germany was far from the success of atomic bomb manufacture" although one question frequently asked about nuclear development is "How close was Germany to atomic bomb manufacture?" The reason seems to be because "There was not enough industrial power to manufacture the atomic bomb in Germany" at that time, which is a big problem than the depth of scientific understanding of the atomic bomb that Germany had.

It has been said that the atomic bomb is a tragedy that has been caused by "the progress of science that has gone too far" for a long time. There is also a tendency for scientific stories to be easier for people than industrial stories. For example, the story that Oppenheimer and colleagues developed the atomic bomb by overcoming ethical and scientific difficulties are more entertaining and entertaining people than stories that solve barriers associated with the construction of large factories. Furthermore, in the case of the atomic bomb, fundamental physics knowledge was originally known by scientists from around the world before the war, and the fact that the most difficult engineering know-how was the industrial area was also used by the factory department from the research department Mr. Wellerstein believes that it has resulted in more cost.

Based on this estimate, Mr. Wellerstein said people should correct their thoughts on costs related to the development of weapons including the atomic bomb.