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SCP-1859 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-1859
Expected annual
$6.9M
One-time setup
$30.8M
Annual recurring
$6.7M
Personnel
28
Upfront capital costs are roughly $30.8M driven by underground Monitoring Station construction, shielding, lab build-out, and a decommissioning reserve. Recurring operations are roughly $6.65M/year driven by staff wages, shaft/facility maintenance, expedition logistics, and research/monitoring consumables.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $30.8M
Facilities $15.1M
[#2, #4, #11, #19, #20, #21] Monitoring Station construction/shielding, initial tunnel-sealing program and structural works, clinic fit-out, backup generation/UPS installation, environmental controls/ventilation installation, and perimeter infrastructure/hardening.
Decommissioning Fund $5.5M
[#28] Fund reserved for eventual decommissioning, long-term monitoring, and deep-underground remediation.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $3.8M
[#14, #15] Biological research lab (BSL-3/4 capable) build-out and initial sample/waste-handling setup (autoclaves, licensed storage, handling infrastructure).
Equipment $2.9M
[#5, #6, #7, #8, #10, #17, #18, #22, #26] Initial radiation/time instrumentation, chronometers and hardened feeds, hardened/analog CCTV network, Zip Racer fleet purchase, initial PPE stock, analog mapping kits, hardened communications uplink install, emergency/response readiness equipment, and secure archival hardware.
Land Acquisition And Cover Story $1.5M
[#1] Purchase/long-term lease of surface property, initial legal fees, stakeholder compensation and setup of cover story/PR for the site.
Legal Settlement Contingency Reserve $1.5M
[#12] One-time/escrow reserve for potential legal settlements and high-risk contingency related to D-Class program and exposures.
Archival Contingency Reserve $500K
[#26] One-time legal/contingency reserve for archival/records falsification risk and document management escrow.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $6.7M/yr
Staff Wages $2.7M/yr
[#9, #11, #21, #24] Payroll for scientists, technicians, administrative staff, mechanical maintenance staff, medics and security personnel (includes hazard pay and on-call rotations).
Research And Monitoring $930K/yr
[#6, #16, #23] Chronometer calibration/maintenance, ongoing analytical costs (sequencing, isotope/radiation analysis), and computational/modeling staff and compute resources.
Logistics And Transport $875K/yr
[#8, #13, #19, #22] Vehicle maintenance/fuel for Zip Racers, expedition staging and life-support consumables, site electricity/fuel resupply, and standby emergency/evacuation contract costs.
Facilities Maintenance $800K/yr
[#3, #2, #20, #21] Shaft/elevator maintenance and pumping, Monitoring Station upkeep, ventilation/environmental system operations, and perimeter/fence maintenance.
Supplies And Consumables $700K/yr
[#5, #7, #10, #15, #17, #27] Radiation-monitoring consumables and calibrations, camera/media replacements, recurring PPE and filters, radioactive/biohazard waste disposal fees, sacrificial mapping equipment replacement, and lab consumables/reagents.
D Class Program $300K/yr
[#12] Recurring costs for D-Class recruitment, screening, clandestine payments, transport, rotation management and associated operational overhead (excludes one-time settlement reserve).
Cover Story And Legal $220K/yr
[#1, #26] Ongoing legal retainer, public affairs/FOIA handling, and archival/secure-backup maintenance costs for cover operations.
Training And Drills $75K/yr
[#25] Radiation/time-anomaly safety training, decontamination drills, procedural rehearsals and instructor costs.
Communications And Uplink $60K/yr
[#18] Ongoing communications service, satellite uplink and maintenance of hardened surface-to-station links.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $6.7M/yr
83.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with no major incidents; routine expeditions and scheduled maintenance only.
routine_expeditions scheduled_maintenance standard_research_activity
🚨 Minor Incident $7.2M/yr
15.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline
Minor containment incident or discovery requiring emergency sealing, short-term repairs, or an expanded expedition campaign.
new_tunnel_discovery localized_infrastructure_damage small_fauna_breach
🚨 Major Breach $15.7M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$9.0M vs baseline
Significant containment failure / large fauna escape or exposure event triggering major repairs, legal claims, large-scale remediation and public-response operations.
large_scale_tunnel_failure significant_fauna_escape legal_exposure_and_settlements
👥 Personnel 28 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 6 [#24] Principal investigators, radiation biologists and geophysicists responsible for field research and publications.
Laboratory Technician 4 [#14, #24] BSL-3/4 lab technicians and vivarium staff supporting biological containment and assays.
Engineer / Maintenance 3 [#9, #3] Mechanical maintenance staff and elevator/shaft/pump technicians for on-call repairs and scheduled maintenance.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 8 [#21, #24] Armed security and perimeter staff to prevent unauthorized access and perform checkpoint duties.
Medical Officer 2 [#11] Onsite medics for triage, radiation initial treatment and coordination with external hospitals.
Administrative Staff 3 [#1, #26] Site administration, legal liaison, records management and cover-story administration.
Data Analyst / Modeling Staff 2 [#23, #6] Computational modelers and chronometry analysts maintaining time-logs, simulations and anomaly analysis.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line-item ranges, but many costs depend on unknowns (depth/complexity of underground works, frequency/scale of tunnel discovery, legal outcomes). Estimates are mid-range aggregations of wide ranges and contingency choices.
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