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SCP-5485 Unknown ~ medium confidence
SCP-5485
Expected annual
$81.1M
One-time setup
$950.9M
Annual recurring
$73.7M
Personnel
50
One-time setup costs are dominated by deep-sea infrastructure, salvage/entombment options, and vessel/equipment purchases (~$876M); annual operating costs are driven by continuous offshore patrols, chartered survey ships, staffing, and R&D/monitoring (~$73.7M/yr).
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $950.9M
Facilities $597.8M
[#5, #6, #12, #22, #23, #24, #29] Includes subsea cable and landing infrastructure (~$77,500,000), onshore remote operations center buildout (~$3,250,000), quarantine wing buildout (~$750,000), large-scale entombment option (~$135,000,000), full salvage/relocation lower-bound (~$350,000,000), one-time contingency fund (~$30,000,000), and initial onshore depot (~$1,250,000).
Equipment $262.1M
[#3, #4, #7, #9, #15, #19, #21, #26] Purchase and retrofit equipment: work-class ROV/AUV fleet (~$10,500,000), purchased/refitted heavy-lift vessel (~$165,000,000), secure data/memetic sanitization setup (~$2,500,000), PPE/robotic unit R&D & initial fielding (~$2,600,000), optional deep-sub rescue purchase (~$75,000,000), initial sensor suites (~$2,000,000), automated/safe-interaction robotics R&D (~$4,000,000), and cryptographic/secure-comms hardware setup (~$500,000).
Deep Sub Purchase $75.0M
[#15] Optional capital purchase for owned deep-sub rescue/emergency capability (midpoint of $30–120M).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $10.0M
[#8] Initial lab buildout and capital for memetic countermeasure R&D (instruments, trial infrastructure) estimated as an initial investment for the multi-year program.
Medical Reserve Fund $6.0M
[#12] Long-term reserves for severe irreversible cases / disability funds (midpoint of $2–10M).
Program Level Setup $0
[#30] Program-level setup summary provided in notes (summary only; costs allocated to above line items).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $73.7M/yr
Logistics And Transport $37.0M/yr
[#1, #2, #15, #25] Continuous surface exclusion/patrols (~$21,900,000/yr), dedicated research/salvage ship charters (~$9,600,000/yr assuming 60 days/year), on-call deep-sub rescue retainers (~$3,000,000/yr), and routine fuel/logistics/resupply (~$2,500,000/yr).
Research And Monitoring $12.1M/yr
[#8, #13, #19, #21] Ongoing cognitive/memetic R&D (~$10,000k/yr mid), environmental/marine biology monitoring (~$1,250k/yr), sensor-suite maintenance (~$350k/yr), and robotics maintenance/R&D continuation (~$500k/yr).
Cover Story And Legal $11.9M/yr
[#16, #17, #18, #24, #27, #28] Legal/diplomatic/liaison operations (~$3,000k/yr), strategic info/media operations (~$1,750k/yr), secure archival destruction (~$300k/yr), annual insurance/contingency reserve (~$6,000k/yr), forensic archival backups (~$350k/yr), and specialized legal/forensic team (~$550k/yr).
Staff Wages $8.8M/yr
[#10, #6, #20] Salaries and loaded costs for ship crews, ROV engineers, memetics researchers, MTF/security, medics and high-assurance reviewers (includes remote-center staffing estimate).
Facilities Maintenance $1.6M/yr
[#7, #5, #26] Ongoing maintenance for secure data/memetic sanitization systems (~$350k/yr), subsea cable/landing maintenance and spares (~$1,000k/yr), and secured communications airtime & maintenance (~$275k/yr).
Supplies And Consumables $1.5M/yr
[#11, #9, #14, #29] Training, inoculation programs (~$400k/yr), PPE/robotic spare parts & consumables (~$200k/yr), biohazard disposal & decontamination (~$550k/yr), and depot replenishment (~$350k/yr).
Quarantine And Care $650K/yr
[#12] Annual operating & care for exposed personnel (inpatient/outpatient psychiatric/neurological care and quarantine operations; midpoint ~$300–1,000k/yr).
Program Level Annual $0/yr
[#30] Program-level annual summaries are provided in the notes (low/medium/high intensity options); operational costs allocated to the recurring categories above.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $73.7M/yr
84.5% probability / year
Normal year with continuous monitoring, routine research, patrols and no major incidents.
no major incidents steady ops tempo scheduled R&D and maintenance
🚨 Minor Incident $83.7M/yr
12.0% probability / year +$10.0M vs baseline
Localized incident requiring surge response, additional charters, emergency medical care and cleanup.
illegal vessel incursions localized memetic exposure event small-scale salvage/cleanup
🚨 Major Breach $223.7M/yr
3.0% probability / year +$150.0M vs baseline
Containment failure or large memetic exposure requiring emergency entombment, extended R&D surge, broad medical response and legal/diplomatic action.
significant memetic dissemination major structural failure international incident
🚨 Salvage Operation $423.7M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$350.0M vs baseline
Decision to attempt full salvage/raise and relocate the site to land, triggering a major one-off salvage campaign.
policy decision to remove site technically feasible salvage window O5 authorization
👥 Personnel 50 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 8 [#8,#13] Neuroscientists, psychopharmacologists, marine biologists for memetic countermeasures and ecological monitoring.
Engineer / Maintenance 8 [#3,#19,#21,#29] ROV/AUV engineers, roboticists and depot maintenance staff for equipment upkeep and spares.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 12 [#1,#10] Armed maritime patrol teams and site security for exclusion zone enforcement and boarding/interdiction.
Ship Crew 10 [#2,#25] Crews for chartered research/salvage vessels and patrol tenders; includes bridge, deck and small-boat teams.
Medical Officer 3 [#12,#11] Medics, psychiatric/neurological staff for quarantine, decontamination and treatment of exposed personnel.
Data Analyst / High-assurance Reviewer 5 [#20,#7] High-assurance data analysis team to review sanitized outputs with limited exposure and automated prefiltering.
Administrative Staff 4 [#16,#17,#18] Logistics, legal liaisons, and cover-story management personnel to maintain deniability and handle diplomatic/legal matters.
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates are based on analyst-provided ranges and midpoints; many line items have order-of-magnitude uncertainty driven by depth/topography, memetic transmissibility, and strategic choices (monitor-and-deny vs. active neutralization), hence medium confidence.
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