How much did Manhattan Project cost to build?
The Manhattan Project was the United States wartime programme that developed the first atomic bombs, with the Trinity test on 16 July 1945 and the bombs dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. The Brookings Institution table, taken from the official history of the Atomic Energy Commission, gives estimated cumulative costs through 31 December 1945, capital and operations from 1942 through 1945, with a grand total of 1,889,604,000 dollars, of which Oak Ridge 1,188,352,000 and Hanford 390,124,000.
Final project cost
$1.8896 billion
Cost basis: 1945
Cost record
How the cost changed
Budgets, contracts and final costs may cover different stages. Each figure keeps its own year and source.
Final project cost
1945$1.8896 billion
nps.govReported project cost
1945$2 billion
brookings.eduProject record