SCP-835 — SCP-835 | Cost Breakdown

Read on SCP Wiki ↗

SCP-835 Keter ~ medium confidence

SCP-835

Expected annual

$13.2M

One-time setup

$53.1M

Annual recurring

$12.4M

Personnel

One-time capital outlay (~$53.1M) is driven by vessel purchase/retrofit, decommissioning/contingency reserves, and major specialized equipment. Recurring annual costs (~$12.435M/year) are driven primarily by staff wages, logistics/relocation, fuel/energy, insurance, and ongoing research/monitoring.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $53.1M

Facilities $23.5M

[#1, #2] Purchase/retrofit of a dedicated seaworthy containment/support vessel (50–80 m) and purchase of at least one backup/tug/tender; includes structural retrofit work required for on-board containment operations.

Decommissioning Fund $20.0M

[#23] Recommended decommissioning/containment-failure contingency fund for rapid-response remediation, public safety measures, and large-scale containment failure scenarios.

Contingency Reserve $5.0M

[#18] One-time catastrophic insurance/reserve fund to cover uninsurable high-risk maritime/biohazard incidents (separate from recurring insurance premiums).

Equipment $2.6M

[#4, #5, #7, #8, #10, #21] Continuous monitoring hardware (sonar/cameras/hydrophones), ROV/UAV fleet, safety lines/winches and deck installations, PPE initial kit-out, waste storage tanks/pumping systems, and USV purchase.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $1.1M

[#11, #22] Shipboard/shore-based BSL-2 lab fit-out and sample archive/cryostorage freezer fit-out for initial research and sample handling.

Suppression Hardware $800K

[#12] One-time procurement of Suppression Tactic A-A6 hardware mix (water cannons/sonic deterrents/netting/towing harnesses or equivalent systems).

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $12.4M/yr

Staff Wages $3.5M/yr

[#6] Annual payroll for continuous 24/7 coverage (vessel crew, scientists, ROV pilots/technicians, security, medics, overtime/hazard pay).

Logistics And Transport $1.4M/yr

[#2, #14] Backup vessel/tug operating costs, twice-yearly relocation planning and execution, towing, transit overtime, and related logistics.

Cover Story And Legal $1.3M/yr

[#17] Legal counsel, permitting, environmental assessments, fines/compensation risk budgeting, and active cover-story/public relations operations.

Fuel And Energy $1.2M/yr

[#15] Diesel fuel for vessels and generators to support continuous at-sea operations, ROV charging, and life support.

Insurance Premium $1.0M/yr

[#18] Annual insurance premium or internal liability reserve to cover routine accidents, injuries, and limited environmental remediation.

Research And Monitoring $700K/yr

[#4, #11] Ongoing monitoring system calibration/maintenance, sensor replacement, and lab staffing/consumables for sample analysis and R&D.

Supplies And Consumables $500K/yr

[#5, #8, #25] Consumables and maintenance for ROVs/AUVs/UAVs, PPE consumables, and inventory of marine spare parts/consumables.

Medevac Contract $500K/yr

[#13] Annual contracted medevac/rapid extraction standby costs (helicopter/fast boat) and related protocols.

Administrative Overhead $500K/yr

[#24] Central accounting, procurement, logistics management, security vetting, and administrative staff costs.

Suppression Readiness $400K/yr

[#12] Annual training, ordnance refresh, readiness drills, and maintenance for suppression systems; includes budget for contracted naval support per smaller escalations.

Comms And Data $330K/yr

[#16] Satellite bandwidth, high-bandwidth uplinks, secure storage/archiving, and IT security/encryption costs.

Facilities Maintenance $250K/yr

[#7, #1, #2] Annual maintenance, certification, and inspection of vessel structures, winches, recall systems, and support vessels.

Environmental Monitoring $200K/yr

[#20] Ongoing marine ecosystem testing, fisheries impact studies, and mitigation/compensation monitoring.

Waste Processing $200K/yr

[#10] Annual hazardous-waste disposal, incineration/neutralization contracts, and specialized waste testing.

Training And Drills $150K/yr

[#19] Recurring training, suppression drills, rescue simulations, and external contractor certification costs.

Dp System Maintenance $125K/yr

[#3] Maintenance of dynamic positioning (DP) systems when owned; covers DP system upkeep and certification. Chartering DP vessels treated as contingency/operational expense under logistics when used.

Usv Maintenance $120K/yr

[#21] Annual maintenance and operations for Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) used for perimeter patrol and remote inspection.

Sample Archive Maintenance $60K/yr

[#22] Freezer/cryostorage maintenance (LN2/power), inventory management, and chain-of-custody administration.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $12.4M/yr

79.5% probability / year

Normal year with routine operations, scheduled relocations, maintenance, and no major incidents.

scheduled relocation routine maintenance regular research operations

🚨 Minor Incident $12.9M/yr

15.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline

Localized incident (injury, small containment upset, limited equipment damage) requiring additional medevac, temporary suppression deployment, and legal/cleanup costs.

localized staff capture or injury small-scale growth surge equipment damage requiring repairs

🚨 Major Breach $17.4M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline

Significant containment breach causing vessel damage, extended relocation, large suppression and contracted naval support, and substantial remediation/legal costs.

partial containment failure major equipment loss/damage environmental contamination requiring remediation

🚨 Catastrophic Breach $92.4M/yr

0.5% probability / year +$80.0M vs baseline

Full containment failure or large-scale contamination event requiring massive remediation, public safety response, possible decommissioning and use of contingency funds.

complete containment collapse wide-area environmental release multi-jurisdictional emergency response

👥 Personnel 20 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	6	[#6] Armed containment/security personnel for at-sea operations and suppression actions.
Vessel Crew (captain, engineers, deckhands)	4	[#1, #2, #6] Dedicated vessel crew for continuous station-keeping, towing/relocation, and ship operations.
Research Scientist	3	[#11, #6] Marine biologists and scientists conducting monitoring, sample analysis, and R&D.
Technicians / ROV pilots	3	[#5, #6] ROV/AUV/UAV operators, technicians for equipment maintenance and remote inspections.
Medical Officer	1	[#6, #13] On-board medic for injury response and coordination with medevac resources.
Engineer / Maintenance	1	[#7, #15] Technical maintenance staff for DP systems, winches, generators, and general engineering.
Administrative Staff	1	[#24] Logistics, procurement, and administrative support for classified at-sea operations.
Site Director / Senior Scientist	1	[#6] Senior oversight (site commander / lead scientist) responsible for command decisions and approvals.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates are built from detailed analyst ranges provided for vessels, equipment, staffing, and operations but contain uncertainties (redacted feed composition, unknown suppression specifics, variability in charter vs ownership, and environmental/regulatory risk). Mid-range guesses used where ranges were wide.

← SCP-833 ↑ All SCPs SCP-836 →