SCP-5393 — SCP-5393 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-5393 Euclid ~ medium confidence

SCP-5393

Expected annual

$39.0M

One-time setup

$71.8M

Annual recurring

$37.0M

Personnel

Baseline one-time capital spend is approximately $71.8M driven by vessel and deep-submergence equipment purchases and shore/ship lab buildouts; ongoing annual operations are about $37.0M/yr driven primarily by vessel operations, staffing, contingency/reserve and emergency/rapid-response readiness.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $71.8M

Vessel Purchase And Outfitting $40.0M

[#2] Purchase and major outfitting of at least one oceanographic research vessel suitable for long deep deployments and on-board labs/berths/ROV handling.

Equipment $12.0M

[#3] Deep-submergence ROV/AUV fleet purchase (multiple full-ocean-depth vehicles) and fitted manipulators/cameras/lighting.

Rapid Response Asset Purchase $10.0M

[#12] Purchase of a dedicated rapid-reaction vessel/submersible platform kept available for hours-to-days response.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $5.0M

[#9, #19] Containment-grade shipboard lab fit-out, shore-based aquatic lab construction and initial research instrumentation/assay setup for genomics/metabolomics/modeling.

Mooring Sensor Installation $2.0M

[#4] Installation and hardware for seafloor/mid-water moorings, hydrophones, sonar and camera network to ~4000 m.

Legal Reserve $1.0M

[#20] One-time legal reserve for liability, indemnity setup and contractual/legal contingencies.

Facilities $500K

[#1] Provisional Site administrative setup: legal registration, permits, on-site command center fit-out and comms/data room.

Port Quarantine Setup $500K

[#22] One-time setup of port quarantine facilities and basic decontamination infrastructure for maritime traffic.

Environmental Studies $300K

[#21] One-time environmental assessments and baseline impact studies needed for operations.

Cover Story Initial $175K

[#15] Initial public information / cover story campaign setup and signage/notice work.

Compute Server Setup $150K

[#14] One-time server/setup costs for petabyte-class storage/GPU compute for initial deployment.

Ppe Initial $125K

[#11] Initial purchase of specialized PPE, chemical-resistant suits, respirators, quarantine containers, laundering setup.

Undersea Cable Installation $0

[#5] Undersea fiber/cable installation would run tens-to-hundreds of millions; avoided in baseline (bandwidth provided by satellite).

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $37.0M/yr

Logistics And Transport $15.0M/yr

[#2, #13] Annual vessel operations budget (crew, fuel, maintenance, long deployments) for owned research vessel(s) as primary base.

Staff Wages $3.4M/yr

[#6, #7, #8] Salaries/loaded costs for continuous remote monitoring staff, ROV/AUV pilots & technicians, onboard & shore-based scientific staff and command-center personnel.

Replacement Reserve $3.0M/yr

[#23] Annual contingency reserve (10–20% of capital) for replacement of contaminated or destroyed assets (ROVs, sensors, buoys, etc.).

Contingency Reserve $3.0M/yr

[#27] Recurring reserve for escalations (mass surfacing, spread or international incident); intended as 20–50% reserve of operations in large incidents.

Emergency Response Standby $2.5M/yr

[#12] Annual standby/charter/crew costs for rapid-reaction vessel/submersible availability.

Maritime Enforcement $2.0M/yr

[#16] Contracted patrols, liaison with coast guard/naval assets or own patrol vessels to enforce exclusion zone.

Program Management Overhead $1.5M/yr

[#30] Program management, procurement, accounting/auditing and classified records handling overhead (10–25% of program budget).

Rov Maintenance And Spare Parts $1.2M/yr

[#3, #7] Annual maintenance, spare parts and overhaul costs for deep ROV/AUV fleet and manipulator systems.

Contractor Retainers $800K/yr

[#18] Retainers for private deep-sea companies, specialized contractors, or subject-matter expert partners.

Research And Monitoring $600K/yr

[#14, #19] Ongoing genomics/metabolomics/modeling, data analysis, and storage/compute operational costs for continuous surveillance and research.

Diplomatic Liaison $500K/yr

[#17] Recurring costs for government/diplomatic coordination, classified payments/contingency funds for sensitive jurisdictions.

Insurance And Indemnity $500K/yr

[#20] Marine insurance premiums and recurring indemnity cover for vessels/equipment and operations.

Supplies And Consumables $400K/yr

[#9, #10, #11] Annual waste treatment, hazardous disposal contracts, consumables for decontamination and PPE replenishment.

Cover Story And Legal $400K/yr

[#15, #20] Ongoing PR/cover-story maintenance, Notices to Mariners, and recurring legal coordination/fees.

Sensor Servicing And Repairs $350K/yr

[#4] Annual servicing/repair/recertification for mooring and deep-water acoustic/hydrophone networks.

Pensions And Archival $350K/yr

[#28] Long-term archival costs and pension/severance/retirement overhead (10–20% on payroll estimate).

Facilities Maintenance $300K/yr

[#1, #9] Ongoing maintenance of shore command center, shipboard facilities, and containment lab systems (filtration/waste-handling upkeep).

Communications Bandwidth $300K/yr

[#5] High-bandwidth satellite/communications redundancy for live video and telemetry (monthly satellite costs).

Environmental Mitigation Monitoring $200K/yr

[#21] Ongoing mitigation measures and environmental monitoring to limit disturbance and manage regulatory compliance.

Medical Support And Medevac $200K/yr

[#25] Contracts for hyperbaric medicine access, medevac insurance/support contracts and per-incident evacuation readiness.

Training And Drills $150K/yr

[#24] Regular training, SOP development and emergency drills for ops and decontamination procedures.

Port Decon And Quarantine Operations $100K/yr

[#22] Recurring readiness for decontamination operations at ports and maintenance of quarantine capabilities.

Forensic And Evidence $100K/yr

[#26] Chain-of-custody, certified lab analyses and secure archival procedures for imagery/samples.

Clandestine Communications Monitoring $100K/yr

[#29] Ongoing monitoring of social media, diving/boating forums, and clandestine takedown/legal actions.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $37.0M/yr

85.0% probability / year

Normal operational year with owned vessel(s), continuous monitoring, routine maintenance and no major incidents.

routine_operations scheduled_maintenance no_major_incident

🚨 Minor Incident $38.2M/yr

12.0% probability / year +$1.2M vs baseline

Localized contamination event or equipment loss requiring targeted decontamination, sensor/ROV replacement and increased emergency response.

localized_contamination sensor_or_rov_loss small_scale_surfacing

🚨 Major Breach $97.0M/yr

3.0% probability / year +$60.0M vs baseline

Widespread contamination, mass surfacing or international incident requiring large-scale naval mobilization, asset replacement and public-health measures.

mass_surfacing widespread_contamination international_exposure

👥 Personnel 35 total

Role	Count	Notes
Remote Monitoring Analyst	9	24/7 watch staffing for sonar/video feeds and ALARM triage; included in staff_wages [#6].
ROV/AUV Pilot & Technician	14	Pilots, electronics/mechanics, vehicle technicians and winch operators; included in staff_wages and tied to maintenance budgets [#3, #7].
Research Scientist	8	Marine biologists, microbiologists and relevant scientists for continuous research presence; included in staff_wages [#8, #19].
On-site Command / Administrative Staff	4	Site/ship command center, program coordination and administrative roles included in staff_wages and program overhead [#1, #30].

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates draw from detailed operational line items but many items have wide ranges (vessel vs lease decisions, deep-submergence vehicle counts, and jurisdictional/legal variability), producing moderate overall confidence.

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