← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-1193 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-1193
Expected annual
$4.5M
One-time setup
$741.0M
Annual recurring
$3.8M
Personnel
21
One-time capital and contingency costs dominate (deep-borehole drilling, severing R&D, and contingency reserves totaling hundreds of millions). Recurring yearly operations (staffing, monitoring, maintenance, legal/cover) are on the order of a few million USD per year.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $741.0M
Deep Borehole Drilling And Instrumentation $500.0M
[#10] One-time plan for deep borehole drilling/posting to meet brief (11+ km instrumentation); order-of-magnitude $500M+ (uses lower-end of infeasible estimate).
Contingency R And D Reserve $200.0M
[#25] 'Stretch' R&D/contingency reserve for infeasible tasks (severing at ~20 km, instrumentation at 11+ km); chosen here as a program reserve (within $100M–$1B+ range).
Severing R&D And Installation $20.0M
[#12] R&D/engineering and installation of sacrificial cutters or pre-installed severing modules at reachable depths (realistic install option; R&D-to-achieve-20km would be much larger and is in contingency).
Insurance Reserve Fund $10.0M
[#21] One-time establishment of an internal reserve fund for catastrophic remediation / uninsured exposures (not a recurring premium).
Facilities $3.5M
[#1] Purchase of the telephone switching station property / long-term site acquisition (median of $2–5M range used here).
Alternative Seismic Das And Surface Array $3.0M
[#11] Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) + shallow borehole splicing + dense surface seismometer array as a realistic alternative to ultra-deep posts (median $1M–$5M).
Pressurized Backfill Equipment $2.0M
[#13] Pumps, high-pressure pumping systems and admixtures sized for deep (2–4 km) pressurized concrete backfill (median $0.5M–$5M).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $1.2M
[#15] Secure wet-lab buildout and high-temperature/materials testing equipment (median of $500k–$2M range).
Equipment $1.1M
[#2, #3, #5, #16, #17, #22] Tungsten-steel containment grate, purchased long-reach endoscopy hardware (median), endoscope winch/deployment rig, data logging/recording hardware, phone preservation/initial recording hardware, and fleet buy-in (pickup/service van).
Facility Upgrades And Utilities $100K
[#18] One-time HVAC/electrical/UPS/generator upgrades to support monitoring and secure basement operations.
Initial Training And Clearance $10K
[#7] Initial training and security clearances for interrogator staffing (one-time onboarding costs).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $3.8M/yr
Staff Wages $2.4M/yr
[#7, #8, #14, #15] 24/7 interrogator coverage (3 FTEs ≈ $240k), on-site security (6–8 FTEs ≈ $315k), specialized engineering/geophysics team (combined ≈ $1.5M), and laboratory staff (≈ $300k).
Cover Story And Legal $400K/yr
[#19, #20] Legal/cover counsel retainer, liaison, occasional covert payments (~$100k–$500k/yr) plus community relations/mitigation (~$50k–$200k/yr).
Research And Monitoring $300K/yr
[#3, #6, #11, #16] Ongoing instrumentation maintenance and telemetry/processing (long-reach maintenance ~$50k/yr, DAS/telemetry processing ~$200k/yr, data storage/maintenance ~$30k/yr; cable consumables also referenced).
Insurance Premiums And Reserve $250K/yr
[#21] Ongoing insurance premiums or internal funding equivalent (estimated ~$250k/yr).
Facilities Maintenance $225K/yr
[#1, #18] Lease/operating overhead, property taxes, inspections, and ongoing facility utilities maintenance (lease/operating ~$150k/yr plus upgrades/maintenance ~$75k/yr).
Supplies And Consumables $125K/yr
[#6, #5, #15] Cable/camera replacement & consumables ($30k–$100k/yr median), endoscope/winch maintenance ($10k/yr), and laboratory disposables ($50k/yr).
Training And Drills $50K/yr
[#24] Recurring protocol drills, staff recertification, and documentation updates (Protocol 473a exercises, etc.).
Hazardous Waste Disposal $40K/yr
[#23] Contracted hazardous/biological waste disposal and decontamination services ($20k–$60k/yr, median).
Logistics And Transport $30K/yr
[#22] Fuel, vehicle maintenance, permits and light fleet operating costs (service pickup/van operations).
Security Equipment And Training $25K/yr
[#8] Annual security equipment upkeep, training, and background checks (~$25k/yr).
Telephone Maintenance $5K/yr
[#17] Maintenance of vintage telephone and cabling upkeep (~$5k/yr).
Rapid Response Drilling Retainer $0/yr
[#9] Retainer for guaranteed rapid-response drilling/cutting firms (large variable cost). Set to 0 in baseline and modeled as an adverse-event cost in scenarios.
Endoscopy Rental Option $0/yr
[#4] Contract/rental option for long-reach endoscopy (per-run costs large; modeled as an alternate operational scenario rather than baseline recurring cost).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $3.8M/yr
92.9% probability / year
Conservative workable program: own specialized endoscopy equipment, use DAS/surface arrays for monitoring, modest contingency reserves; no major incidents or large retainers invoked.
no major incidents internal equipment ownership routine 48-hour inspections and monitoring
🚨 Rental Model $6.2M/yr
5.0% probability / year +$2.4M vs baseline
Organization declines capital purchase of long-reach endoscopy and instead contracts logging/well-inspection firms for 48-hour inspections (high per-run recurring cost).
contracted endoscopy runs no internal long-reach capital purchase
🚨 Containment Response $6.8M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$3.0M vs baseline
A localized subterranean containment breach requires execution of Protocol 473a: rapid severing and pressurized backfill using contractors and specialized pumps; mobilization and emergency operations.
seismic readings consistent with subterranean movement evidence of breach requiring Protocol 473a
🚨 Major Breach $523.8M/yr
0.1% probability / year +$520.0M vs baseline
Catastrophic event or decision to attempt literal compliance with brief (drilling/posting instruments at 7–11 km and R&D/operations to sever below ~20 km), requiring national-scale drilling/R&D and massive remediation.
decision to fund ultra-deep drilling large-scale containment failure requiring new engineering programs
👥 Personnel 21 total
Role Count Notes
Interrogator 3 [#7] 24/7 three-shift coverage (3 FTEs, ~$80k each; includes benefits).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 7 [#8] Perimeter and basement security (6–8 FTEs used; ~$45k each).
Research Scientist / Engineering Specialist 8 [#14] Geophysicists, petroleum/geothermal engineers, well-logging technicians and materials scientists (combined salary ≈ $1.5M/yr).
Laboratory Technician / Medical Officer 3 [#15] Lab staff supporting pathology/histology/materials testing (combined ≈ $300k/yr).
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes are detailed and enumerate realistic cost ranges for most items, giving moderate confidence in recurring operational estimates. Major one-time items (deep drilling, severing at ~20 km) are highly uncertain and effectively infeasible with current commercial capability, reducing overall confidence on extreme-capability line items.
← SCP-1192 ↑ All SCPs SCP-1194 →