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SCP-738 Keter ~ medium confidence
SCP-738
Expected annual
$4.6M
One-time setup
$15.5M
Annual recurring
$4.5M
Personnel
21
Initial capital outlay is large (~$15.5M) driven by hardened containment chambers, crisis reserve, and heavy equipment (robotics, secure IT/surveillance, vehicles). Recurring annual operations are substantial (~$4.48M/yr) driven by staff wages (engineers, armed guards, researchers), Class D management, legal/cover-up, maintenance and monitoring.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $15.5M
Facilities $8.1M
[#1, #23] Construction of three linked sealed chambers (blast-rated reinforced concrete, doors, airlocks, interstitial hulls) and adjacent secure explosive magazine buildout.
Crisis Contingency Reserve $5.0M
[#25] Lump capital reserve recommended for catastrophic breach / large-scale cover-up response.
Equipment $2.2M
[#2, #3, #5, #9, #11, #12, #21] Industrial robotic assembly/disassembly system, remote detonation hardware, initial explosive-collar inventory (initial units), high-resolution surveillance hardware & servers, initial IT/air-gap hardware, HVAC/microclimate control hardware, and purchase of armored transport vehicles.
Shaped Charges Initial $175K
[#4] Initial procurement of preset shaped charges inventory (10-20 units initial stock).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $4.5M/yr
Staff Wages $2.1M/yr
[#6, #8, #10] Dedicated engineers (2) with hazard pay, armed security force (estimated 15 guards, shift premiums), on-site research staff team (3-6 FTEs; modeled here as 4 FTEs).
Class D Management $700K/yr
[#7] Procurement, housing, management, medical screening, supervision and higher cover/legal expenses for pool of ~20 active Class D with required selection criteria.
Cover Story And Legal $500K/yr
[#19] Legal/cover-up operations, records falsification, missing-persons mitigation, and related external contractor costs.
Research And Monitoring $325K/yr
[#9, #15, #24, #26] Ongoing surveillance storage/maintenance, red-team safety testing and audits, evidence/lab analysis budgets, and bargaining/psychological training & simulations for researchers.
Incidental Misc Overhead $200K/yr
[#27] Utilities beyond generators, office supplies, cafeteria, janitorial, on-site communications, and minor repairs.
Facilities Maintenance $180K/yr
[#14, #12, #23] Spare parts and annual service contracts for mechanical systems/doors/robots, HVAC/microclimate maintenance, and explosive-storage compliance monitoring.
Logistics And Transport $100K/yr
[#21] Operations, fuel, maintenance and drivers for armored transport vehicles and secure transfer logistics.
Medical And Psychological Care $100K/yr
[#18] Emergency medical response and ongoing psychological care for exposed personnel and witnesses.
It Security Maintenance $100K/yr
[#11] Ongoing IT security, audits, air-gap maintenance, intrusion detection and shielding upkeep.
Background Checks And Clearance $75K/yr
[#20] Background checks, security clearances, periodic rechecks and classified training for staff.
Ammunition And Weapons $75K/yr
[#22] Ammunition, weapons maintenance, less-lethal equipment and training ammunition.
Explosive Collar Maintenance $12K/yr
[#5] Recurring replacement/maintenance/testing rigs for detonation collars (spares and lifecycle maintenance).
Supplies And Consumables $10K/yr
[#13] Consumables for experiments (parchment/quills replacements where applicable), PPE, sterile containers, evidence bags.
Shaped Charge Replacement $0/yr
[#4] Replacement/resupply costs when shaped charges are used or expire; treated as event-driven (no baseline annual spend assumed).
Emergency Repairs Per Incident $0/yr
[#16] Per-incident emergency repair/reset fund (event-driven; baseline not budgeted here—handled in incident scenarios).
Forensic Cleanup Per Event $0/yr
[#17] Forensic/post-detonation cleanup and biohazard disposal per event (event-driven; baseline not budgeted here).
Crisis Reserve Replenishment $0/yr
[#25] Annual replenishment of crisis reserve (replenish as-needed; not assumed in baseline recurring).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $4.5M/yr
88.5% probability / year
Normal uneventful year with no major containment incidents; routine operations, maintenance, staffing and monitoring only.
no incidents routine maintenance standard research schedule
🚨 Minor Incident $4.8M/yr
10.0% probability / year +$350K vs baseline
Single containment-related incident (engineer collar detonation or shaped-charge use) requiring repairs, replacement ordnance, and forensic cleanup.
engineer collar detonation shaped-charge deployment localized mechanical failure
🚨 Major Breach $7.5M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$3.0M vs baseline
Significant containment failure causing multiple casualties, heavy structural damage, large-scale repairs and substantial legal/cover-up costs.
multi-person breach structural damage to chambers extensive forensic and repair operations
🚨 Political Exposure $9.5M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline
Public exposure or legal/political escalation requiring full crisis reserve deployment, major legal operations, and reputational containment.
public leak / major media exposure external legal action large-scale corruption/cover-up operations
👥 Personnel 21 total
Role Count Notes
Engineer / Maintenance 2 [#6] Dedicated engineers certified for hazardous collar-entry, mechanical system maintenance and on-call resets.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 15 [#8] Armed guards for 24/7 chamber postings, rapid response teams and perimeter coverage (modeled as 15 FTEs to match wage estimate).
Research Scientist 4 [#10] PSI researchers, linguists, psychologists and note-takers (core team of 3-6 FTEs; modeled here as 4 FTEs).
📋 Confidence Notes
Many line items (facility hardening, frequency of shaped-charge/collar use, and legal/cover-up needs) have wide ranges; capital and recurring estimates use the analyst's 'best' figures where available, but event-driven costs remain uncertain.
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