SCP-8617 — SCP-8617 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-8617 Unknown ~ medium confidence

SCP-8617

Expected annual

$264K

One-time setup

$836K

Annual recurring

$244K

Personnel

First-year setup and contingencies are dominated by equipment purchases, an emergency removal reserve and an insurance/legal reserve; ongoing annual costs are chiefly staffing, legal/cover activities, contracted patrols/dives and maintenance of monitoring equipment.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $836K

Emergency Removal Reserve $500K

[#17] Contingency fund set aside for emergency removal/salvage (crane barges, marine engineers, cofferdam) — conservative mid-range reserve.

Insurance Reserve Fund Establishment $100K

[#16] One-time establishment of an insurance/liability reserve or initial retainer as recommended.

Equipment $97K

[#3, #4] Purchase of an inspection-class ROV (mid-range purchase + $5k training included) and installation of 1 fixed monitoring buoy (hardware + installation).

Boat Purchase $35K

[#13] Purchase of a small utility workboat and trailer for site visits, ROV deployments and maintenance.

Permitting And Legal Initial $30K

[#7] Initial environmental permitting, legal counsel and mitigation budget for filings and local coordination.

Scientific Analysis Initial $20K

[#11] Forensic analyses (radiocarbon, metallurgy, ink chemistry, microscopy, conservation) and initial sample processing.

Bathymetric Survey $15K

[#1] Single-day multibeam/side-scan bathymetry/ROV survey to locate grate, measure depth and assess sediment/scour risk.

Initial Concealment $10K

[#6] Cost to source and deposit sand/soil/debris (small barge/diver placement) for concealment or to document prior concealment.

Signage And Charting $10K

[#8] One-time purchase/installation of warning/exclusion buoys/signs and coordination with charting/boating authorities.

Baseline Environmental Testing $8K

[#2] Initial water-quality and sediment testing (comprehensive panels, multiple lab analyses).

Archive Setup $7K

[#12] Climate-controlled archival storage setup, small vault or museum-grade storage and chain-of-custody systems.

Baseline Imagery $5K

[#20] High-resolution baseline photography/video and creation of archival records.

Facilities $0

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Initial Research And Lab Setup $0

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🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $244K/yr

Staff Wages $80K/yr

[#18] Salary for a part- or full-time monitoring coordinator and administrative support to manage inspections, SOPs and agency coordination.

Insurance Premium $50K/yr

[#16] Annual insurance/liability premium or reserve contribution to cover civil claims, injuries or accidental discovery publicity.

Law Enforcement Reimbursement $30K/yr

[#9] Reimbursement to local sheriff/parks department for additional patrol hours to enforce magnet-fishing prohibition (moderate schedule).

Cover Story And Legal $25K/yr

[#7, #10] Ongoing legal retainer/permit filings and public-relations/community outreach to maintain cover story and reduce public interest.

Logistics And Transport $20K/yr

[#5] Contracted periodic diver inspections / contingency dive-call budget (contractor dive days and boat support).

Sediment Stabilization $20K/yr

[#14] Annual contingency budget for reburial/sediment-stabilization after storms or seasonal erosion.

Boat Operations $5K/yr

[#13] Fuel, insurance and routine maintenance for the site workboat.

Rov Maintenance $4K/yr

[#3] Annual maintenance and minor repairs for inspection-class ROVs.

Supplies And Consumables $4K/yr

[#19] Consumables: ropes, anchors, spare cameras, sample bottles, PPE, adhesives, small tools and diver gases.

Research And Monitoring $3K/yr

[#15, #20] Data communications/cloud storage and periodic imagery archiving costs.

Buoy Operations $2K/yr

[#4] Communications/data fees and battery replacement/maintenance for 1 buoy.

Archive Maintenance $2K/yr

[#12] Ongoing storage, climate-control and records maintenance for archived samples and imagery.

Facilities Maintenance $0/yr

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⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $244K/yr

88.0% probability / year

Normal year: scheduled inspections, routine maintenance, legal retainer and patrol reimbursements with no major incidents.

no major storms no salvage required stable public interest

🚨 Minor Incident $274K/yr

10.0% probability / year +$30K vs baseline

Localized event such as storm-driven erosion, extra dive callouts or small remediation requiring additional contracted work.

major storm increased magnet-fishing activity small containment repair

🚨 Emergency Removal $1.0M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$800K vs baseline

Full salvage/removal operation involving heavy-lift barges/cranes, marine engineering and extended coastal works.

failed concealment environmental hazard requiring extraction significant public discovery

👥 Personnel 2 total

Role	Count	Notes
Monitoring Coordinator	1	[#18] Full-time or primary staffer responsible for scheduling inspections, SOP maintenance and agency coordination.
Administrative Staff	1	[#18] Part-time administrative support for permitting, record-keeping and outreach coordination (salary portion included in staff_wages).

📋 Confidence Notes

Line-item costs for surveys, equipment and routine operations are well-understood, but large uncertainties remain around salvage/emergency removal and insurance costs, so overall confidence is medium.

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