SCP-2877 — SCP-2877 | Cost Breakdown

Read on SCP Wiki ↗

SCP-2877 Keter ~ medium confidence

SCP-2877

Expected annual

$12.7M

One-time setup

$35.1M

Annual recurring

$12.5M

Personnel

Initial capital outlay is large (≈$35.2M) driven by specialized containment infrastructure and an iridium reserve. Recurring annual costs are dominated by the monthly sphere/enclosure turnover, iridium attrition and staff/operational support (≈$12.47M/year).

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $35.1M

Equipment $12.2M

[#2, #3, #6, #8] Capital equipment: cryogenic refrigeration system (#2), initial 1 m cobalt/iridium sphere fabrication (#3), plasma/plasma-arc incinerator capital (#6), magnetic levitation & shielding hardware (#8).

Iridium Initial Reserve $10.0M

[#10] Initial iridium procurement and secure on-site reserve (50–200 kg budgeted as capital reserve).

Contingency Reserve $5.0M

[#22] Insurance/bonding/risk contingency fund for emergency fabrication, evacuation, or accelerated purchases.

Facilities $2.0M

[#1] Hermetically sealed storage units, structural support, airlocks, and outfitting for the 67a/67b rooms.

Radiological Monitoring And Stockpile $1.5M

[#15] Radiological monitoring suite capital and emergency mitigation stockpile (alpha/gamma/neutron detectors + shielding plates).

Mobile Shielding $1.5M

[#20] Mobile iridium-coated shielding trailers and rapid-response deployable shielding kits.

Off Gas Treatment $1.0M

[#16] Capital for off-gas treatment, scrubbers, condensers and gas-recovery/cryogenic separation equipment.

Redundancy Spares $600K

[#26] Initial spare parts stockpile (cryo compressors, magnet power supplies, pumps, control electronics).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $550K

[#17, #29] Hardened remote sensor suite and initial IT/secure logging infrastructure (sensor housings, off-site backup setup, hardened control networks).

Cover Company Setup $500K

[#21] Initial setup of front companies, shell contracts and procurement obfuscation infrastructure.

Security Equipment $200K

[#18] Capital for security equipment, vehicles and hardened perimeter hardware.

Tooling Initial $50K

[#14] Special-purpose tooling, remote manipulators and sacrificial implement initial capital set.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $12.5M/yr

Sphere Replacement $3.0M/yr

[#4] Monthly fabrication/reclamation cycle for 1 m cobalt/iridium spheres (budgeted ~$250k/month operational plan).

Staff Wages $2.3M/yr

[#18, #19, #23] Salaries and benefits for dedicated security, specialist scientists, engineers/maintenance and administrative staff.

Research And Monitoring $1.5M/yr

[#27] R&D program aimed at reducing destructive cycle and long-term containment improvements.

Iridium Attrition And Processing $1.2M/yr

[#10] Monthly attrition processing, reclamation, plating and losses from iridium use and reclamation workflows.

Enclosure Replacement $900K/yr

[#9] Monthly replacement/reclamation budget for the cobalt collapsible 4×4×2.5 m enclosure (budgeted ~$75k/month).

Ppe Consumables $600K/yr

[#11] Single-use neon-compatible protective suits and breathing apparatus consumed per monthly operation.

Cover Story And Legal $500K/yr

[#21] Ongoing legal/cover infrastructure, front company maintenance, record suppression and procurement obfuscation costs.

D Class Program $360K/yr

[#12] Recruitment, training, transport and program overhead for 3 D-Class/month under Procedure 8997-Clever.

Neon Supply $300K/yr

[#5] Bulk high-purity neon procurement and gas-handling logistics for monthly atmosphere replacement.

Energy And Utilities $200K/yr

[#7] Baseline utilities, power for refrigeration, vacuum systems and magnet control outside cryo-specific costs.

Supplies And Consumables $180K/yr

[#30] Miscellaneous consumables, calibration gases, tools/fasteners for non-exposed staff.

Tooling Replacements $180K/yr

[#14] Consumable tooling packs and sacrificial implements replaced after exposure each month.

Off Gas Operations $180K/yr

[#16] Operational costs for off-gas treatment, condensers, filtration and noble-gas recovery per month/year.

Documentation And Audit $180K/yr

[#23] Monthly documentation, auditing, inventory reconciliation and compliance reviews for Procedure 8997-Clever.

Logistics And Transport $150K/yr

[#24] Secure transport for iridium/cobalt shipments, armored neon deliveries and heavy-material logistics.

Cryogenic Operations $150K/yr

[#2] Electricity, maintenance contracts and helium/cryogen make-up for the cryogenic refrigeration system.

Facilities Maintenance $120K/yr

[#1, #7] Structural and containment maintenance, seal replacements, routine infrastructure upkeep.

Sensor Replacements $120K/yr

[#17] Replacement and maintenance of hardened, sacrificial sensors and redundant data logging hardware.

Magnetic Systems $72K/yr

[#8] Power, maintenance and quench-protection servicing for levitation and magnetic control systems.

Medical And Biohazard Handling $72K/yr

[#13] Medical screening, decontamination and biohazard pre-incineration handling per monthly operation.

Incinerator Operations $60K/yr

[#6] Energy and consumables for monthly plasma/incineration runs (per-run costs aggregated annually).

Mobile Shielding Maintenance $50K/yr

[#20] Maintenance and periodic restocking of deployable shielding trailers and rapid-response kits.

Waste Disposal $50K/yr

[#25] Hazardous waste handling and long-term disposal after treatment; regulatory avoidance costs baseline.

Training And Drills $40K/yr

[#28] Regular training, simulated runs and containment/evacuation drills.

Redundancy Restocking $30K/yr

[#26] Annual restocking for spare cryo compressors, pumps and power electronics.

Radiological Maintenance $10K/yr

[#15] Calibration, maintenance and periodic servicing for radiological monitoring equipment.

It Maintenance $10K/yr

[#29] Secure IT maintenance, off-site backup storage fees and network hardening upkeep.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $12.5M/yr

92.5% probability / year

Normal year with scheduled monthly operations and no containment incident.

monthly sphere replacement normal iridium attrition routine operations

🚨 Minor Incident $13.0M/yr

6.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline

Small containment anomaly or equipment failure requiring emergency repairs and increased reclamation losses.

localized equipment failure repair/reclamation surge

🚨 Major Breach $17.5M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline

Significant containment breach or structural failure requiring replacement of major capital, large emergency purchases and extended remediation.

partial enclosure/sphere failure large iridium loss extended remediation

🚨 Catastrophic Iridium Loss $37.5M/yr

0.5% probability / year +$25.0M vs baseline

Worst-case event where iridium shielding/stock is lost or unrecoverable, forcing immediate large-scale replacement and possible temporary relocation/evacuation.

mass iridium attrition failed reclamation compound containment failures

👥 Personnel 22 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	10	[#18] 24/7 armed response and perimeter enforcement; 8–12 guards recommended (10 budgeted).
Research Scientist / Specialist	5	[#19] Materials scientists, cryo engineers, magnetics experts, chemists and nuclear physicists (3–8 recommended).
Engineer / Maintenance	4	[#2, #8, #26] Cryo technicians, magnetics/mechanical maintenance and incinerator operators to support monthly cycles.
Administrative Staff	2	[#21, #23] Documentation, procurement obfuscation coordination and auditing staff.
Medical Officer	1	[#13] Medical screening, decontamination oversight and biohazard handling coordination.

📋 Confidence Notes

Detailed analyst notes enable a structured estimate, but large uncertainties remain around iridium market prices, reclamation efficiency and the true frequency of containment incidents; ranges for many line items are wide.

← SCP-2876 ↑ All SCPs SCP-2878 →