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SCP-3828 Keter ~ medium confidence
SCP-3828
Expected annual
$53.7M
One-time setup
$222.6M
Annual recurring
$53.4M
Personnel
36
Initial capital costs are dominated by the potential purchase/refit of an icebreaker and site retrofits; recurring costs are driven by continuous vessel operations, crew/payroll, secure storage operations, research, and long-term sustainment reserves.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $222.6M
Facilities $205.1M
[#1, #8, #9, #10, #14, #15] Vessel purchase/refit and drydock, secure-storage retrofit, magnetic/Faraday shielding vault build, shipboard/shore crane upgrades, security system and electrified fence installation.
Reserve Fund $10.0M
[#21] Foundation self-insurance / contingency reserve fund (one-time capital allocation toward target reserve).
Equipment $4.5M
[#3, #4, #5, #6, #16, #19, #23, #27] Hermit-1 ROV purchase, initial tether/video system, initial video storage hardware, reinforced nets/winches initial kit, initial decon/PPE kits, initial ISO/refrigerated containment crates, secure IT setup, archive hardware.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $3.0M
[#11, #12, #3] BSL-2/3 lab buildout and instrumentation, materials-science equipment (SEM/XRD/etc.), and initial Hermit-1 spares/instrument inventories for research.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $53.4M/yr
Logistics And Transport $25.6M/yr
[#1, #10, #19] Vessel charter/operation (baseline ongoing platform cost), heavy-retrieval / salvage operation costs, secure specimen transport missions.
Opportunity Cost $7.5M/yr
[#30] Accounting for committed-platform opportunity cost (value of icebreaker/time and dedicated crew unavailable for other missions).
Staff Wages $6.3M/yr
[#2, #5, #11, #12, #17, #27, #23, #14] Payroll for ship crew and rotating MTF/scientific personnel, monitoring operators, lab staff, veterinary/medical staff, archive/administrative and on-site IT staff, and security guard payroll.
Long Term Sustainment Reserve $5.0M/yr
[#28] Annual allocation toward multi-decade sustainment and equipment replacement cycles / present-value provisioning.
Research And Monitoring $2.0M/yr
[#5, #12, #18, #26, #27] Dedicated research program funding, ongoing materials testing/outsourced tests, environmental monitoring and remediation budgets, archive/database software and operations.
Incident Contingency $2.0M/yr
[#22] Standing incident response & remediation contingency (overtime, emergency procurement, contractors, environmental remediation).
Insurance Contributions $1.0M/yr
[#21] Annual contribution to replacement/contingency reserve (self-insurance equivalent).
Facilities Maintenance $830K/yr
[#8, #9, #13, #15] Ongoing site/storage facility operations and maintenance, shielding/power isolation upkeep, site power and fence maintenance.
Cover Story And Legal $800K/yr
[#20] Ongoing front-company, PR, legal and local-authority cover expenses.
Hermit Maintenance $500K/yr
[#3] Annual maintenance, specialist technicians, and operation costs for Hermit-1 (spares/contract maintenance).
Emergency Response Standby $500K/yr
[#7] Medevac/fast-boat/helicopter standby agreements, drills and periodic readiness costs.
Heavy Retrieval Operations $400K/yr
[#6, #10] Per-event tug/heavy-lift/crane/contractor deployments averaged across expected retrievals.
Supplies And Consumables $310K/yr
[#4, #16, #25, #29] Tether/cable spares and consumables, PPE and decon consumables resupply, per-disposal consumables and general small consumables/tools.
It Maintenance $300K/yr
[#23] Ongoing IT/cybersecurity maintenance, backups, and secure logging services.
Training $200K/yr
[#24] Specialized recurring training for Arctic operations, ROV ops, biohazard and magnet safety.
Tether Spares Consumables $125K/yr
[#4] Replacement tether spools, connectors, repeaters and cable management consumables.
Bio Waste Disposal $50K/yr
[#11] Hazardous biological waste contracts (incineration/chemical neutralization) averaged annually.
Disposal And Destruction $25K/yr
[#25] Average annual cost allocated for secure destruction/disposal events (incineration, smelting) averaged over time.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $53.4M/yr
94.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with continuous chartered vessel operations, routine research, and standing contingency funding; no major incidents.
continuous field operations routine maintenance scheduled research projects
🚨 Minor Incident $53.9M/yr
5.0% probability / year +$425K vs baseline
Localized incident requiring medevac, emergency retrievals, short-term remediation and increased legal/cover activity.
single medevac / emergency salvage small media exposure requiring PR/legal response
🚨 Major Breach $72.9M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$19.4M vs baseline
Significant containment breach or large environmental remediation event requiring large-scale contractors, replacement assets, and heavy remediation.
facility breach involving heavy anomalous material major environmental remediation or asset loss
👥 Personnel 36 total
Role Count Notes
Ship Crew (captain/officers/engineers/deckhands) 12 [#2] Merchant/military-level vessel crew for polar operations and vessel operation.
Research Scientist 6 [#2, #18] Biologists/materials scientists running projects and cover research.
ROV / Technical Operators 4 [#3, #4, #5] Hermit-1 operators, tether/cable technicians, monitoring operators.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 8 [#2, #14] Armed guards and rapid-response security for site and on-board operations.
Medical Officer / Veterinary 1 [#17] Onboard veterinary care and periodic medical support for SCP-3828 and crew.
Engineer / Maintenance 3 [#10, #6] Crane/rigging and shipboard/containment maintenance specialists.
IT / Cybersecurity Staff 1 [#23] Secure IT, air-gapped backups and monitoring.
Archive / Administrative Staff 1 [#27] Cataloguing, chain-of-custody records, and administrative support.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line-item ranges permitting mid-range point estimates, but wide ranges for vessel options, incident severity and long-term liabilities introduce material uncertainty; assumptions (charter vs purchase, incident frequency) drive major variance.
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