Topic summary
Los Alamos Laboratory
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Project Y.
Post-war
The number of personnel at the Los Alamos Laboratory plummeted from its wartime peak of over 3,000 to around 1,000, but many were still living in substandard temporary wartime accommodation. Despite the reduced staff, Bradbury still had to provide support for Operation Crossroads, the nuclear tests in the Pacific. Ralph A. Sawyer was appointed the Technical Director with Marshall Holloway from B Division and Roger Warner from Z Division as associate directors. Two ships were assigned for Los Alamos Laboratory personnel, the USS Cumberland Sound and Albemarle. Operation Crossroads cost the Los Alamos Laboratory over one million dollars, and the services of 150 personnel (about one-eighth of its staff) for nine months. As the United States had only about ten atomic bombs in mid-1946 about one fifth of the stockpile was expended.