← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-4321 Keter ? low confidence
SCP-4321
Expected annual
$169.0M
One-time setup
$770.5M
Annual recurring
$144.0M
Personnel
350
Baseline containment requires approximately $760.5M one-time (mainly land-use buyouts, equipment procurement, facility hardening and contingency seed) and ~ $144M/year to operate (staffing, monitoring, logistics, research and legal/cover operations); higher-cost scenarios (access infrastructure or mass incidents) can raise one-year costs into the hundreds of millions or billions.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $770.5M
Facilities $350.0M
[#1, #5, #9] Includes permanent exclusion-zone buyouts/land easements (~$300M) and construction/hardening of a central command & research HQ plus limited perimeter/checkpoint infrastructure (~$50M).
Equipment $215.0M
[#2, #3, #8, #12, #13, #18] Procurement and setup of primary hardware: initial geolocation/tracking integration and ground-sensor contracts (~$20M), high-altitude UAV/balloon fleet procurement (~$120M), medevac helicopter procurement (~$40M), specialized sampling/BSL transport and comms hardware (~$35M combined), and field vehicle procurement (~$20M).
Contingency Fund Seed $100.0M
[#19] Seed for a contingency/catastrophic mitigation reserve to be drawn down during major incidents.
Insurance Seed $50.0M
[#20] Initial insurance/liability seed fund and administrative setup.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $15.0M
[#9, #12] Laboratory buildout and research instrumentation (secure BSL-3/4 sample storage, Neuron Imaging Engines, analytical instruments) to start the scientific program.
Legal And Diplomatic Seed $10.5M
[#4, #14] One-time legal/NOTAM setup and initial diplomatic/cover-story seed funding and agreements.
Facility Retrofit For Wake Systems $10.0M
[#6] One-time retrofitting of critical facilities (hospitals, prisons, nursing homes) with redundant wake/alert infrastructure.
Public Safety Pr Rollout $5.0M
[#15] One-time rollout of signage, public-facing evacuation materials and initial PR/education effort.
Wildlife Management Buyouts $5.0M
[#7] Initial buyouts/animal relocation costs for livestock and initial wildlife removal actions.
Personnel Onboarding And Recruitment $5.0M
[#17] One-time recruitment, training pipeline setup and onboarding costs for initial staff cohort.
Information Security Hardening $5.0M
[#22] Initial vetting, counterintelligence setup, and secure-facility hardening.
Optional Manned Mission Hardware $0
[#10] High-end manned mission hardware (manned missions to SCP surface) — large one-time costs possible ($50M–$500M) but not included in baseline (set to 0).
Access Platform Development $0
[#11] Development/procurement of specialized heavy-lift/anchoring platforms (airships/tethers) — potentially $200M–$2B+, excluded from baseline (set to 0).
Strategic R And D Deployment $0
[#23] One-time deployment costs for any future strategic R&D outcomes (herding/trajectory control) — possible multi-hundred-million-plus cost; excluded from baseline.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $144.0M/yr
Staff Wages $42.0M/yr
[#17] Salaries, hazard pay, insurance and benefits for estimated full-time staff supporting monitoring, response, research, security, pilots, engineers and administration.
Research And Monitoring $40.0M/yr
[#2, #3, #10, #21, #23] Ongoing satellite tasking/data contracts, high-altitude platform ops, multi-disciplinary research program costs, and ecological/environmental monitoring campaigns.
Logistics And Transport $15.0M/yr
[#4, #5, #8, #18] Operational costs for rapid-intercept air patrols / aircrews on standby, ground security vehicle fuel/maintenance, medevac operations, and marine/field transport upkeep.
Facilities Maintenance $10.0M/yr
[#9] Upkeep, hardening maintenance, utilities, and infrastructure repairs for command/research facilities and checkpoint sites.
Cover Story And Legal $10.0M/yr
[#14, #15] Ongoing legal/diplomatic budgets, covert operations allowances, cover-story PR maintenance and liability management.
Containment Reserve Replenishment $10.0M/yr
[#19] Annual replenishment budget to maintain the contingency/catastrophic mitigation fund.
Information Security Counterintelligence $5.0M/yr
[#22] Ongoing counterintelligence, vetting, insider-threat mitigation and amnestic/countermeasures program costs.
Insurance And Compensation $5.0M/yr
[#20] Annual claims administration, compensation payouts and insurance premiums.
Supplies And Consumables $2.0M/yr
[#24] Routine consumables: PPE, filters, sample kits, decontamination supplies and lab disposables.
Mental Health Program $2.0M/yr
[#16] Ongoing debriefing, rehabilitation, amnestic/psychological care and reintegration programs for affected individuals.
Public Safety Program $1.0M/yr
[#15, #6] Ongoing public education, evacuation drills, audits of facility wake systems and controlled public messaging.
Project Management And Audit $1.0M/yr
[#25] Program management, independent audits and inter-agency coordination oversight.
Wildlife Management Program $1.0M/yr
[#7] Ongoing wildlife monitoring, culling/relocation programs and livestock compensation operations.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $144.0M/yr
85.9% probability / year
Normal year with continuous monitoring, routine operations, no major incidents or large-scale access/development projects.
continuous monitoring and ops no major exposures routine research activity
🚨 Minor Incident $194.0M/yr
12.0% probability / year +$50.0M vs baseline
Localized exposure incident requiring surge medical response, targeted buyouts/compensation and accelerated monitoring.
localized mass AVIATION incidents hospital/prison exposure small-scale public disclosures
🚨 Major Breach $944.0M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$800.0M vs baseline
Large-scale exposure affecting a municipality or major infrastructure, requiring mass evacuation, large compensation payouts and international diplomatic action.
city-level exposure mass casualties/medical surge internationalized incident
🚨 Catastrophic Breach $3.1B/yr
0.1% probability / year +$3.0B vs baseline
Extremely rare, catastrophic event (widespread urban exposures or failed high-risk access mission) triggering multi-billion dollar emergency response, infrastructure replacement and possible strategic R&D deployment.
failed large-scale access/engineering mission nation-scale exposures major political exposure / multi-country crisis
👥 Personnel 350 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 120 [#5, #17] Field security teams, perimeter checkpoints and mobile roadblocks staffing (covers patrols and rapid-response ground teams).
Research Scientist 80 [#9, #10, #12, #21, #23] Multidisciplinary scientific staff performing laboratory analysis, field missions, ecological monitoring and long-term R&D.
Engineer / Maintenance 30 [#3, #11, #13, #18] Engineers and technicians for UAV/balloon fleet, comms backbone, ground stations and heavy equipment maintenance.
Pilot / Aircrew 20 [#3, #8, #4, #18] Pilots and aircrew for UAV operations, medevac helicopters, and quick-reaction intercepts or transport flights.
Medical Officer / Paramedic 15 [#8, #16] Rapid-response medics, ICU-capable teams for extraction, and staff for ongoing mental health/rehabilitation programs.
Administrative Staff 20 [#14, #25, #20] Administration, legal/diplomatic liaisons, finance and program management for audits and inter-agency coordination.
Command / Executive Staff 5 [#9, #25] Site director-level leadership and senior program managers.
Field Technicians & Operators 60 [#2, #3, #12, #13, #18] Operators for geolocation sensors, balloon and UAV ground stations, sampling teams, and vehicle crews.
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates are based on wide-ranging analyst ranges and many location- and policy-dependent variables; SCP-4321's anomalous behavior, mobility, and uncertain ecology make precise costing inherently uncertain.
← SCP-4320 ↑ All SCPs SCP-4322 →