SCP-9061 — SCP-9061 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-9061 Neutralized ~ medium confidence

SCP-9061

Expected annual

$16.3M

One-time setup

$149.4M

Annual recurring

$14.8M

Personnel

Initial neutralization and remediation drive one-time costs into the tens to low hundreds of millions (primarily reactor defueling, salvage and vessel acquisition), while recurring annual operations (vessels, specialized staff, monitoring and security) run in the low tens of millions per year.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $149.4M

Vessel Purchase $65.0M

[#2] Purchase and long-term retrofit of a 70–100 m research/salvage vessel (midpoint estimate between $30M–$100M).

Nuclear Defueling Decommissioning $60.0M

[#5] Defueling, reactor compartment removal, packaging and long-term disposition (significant variability depending on fuel status; mid-range used).

Equipment $6.4M

[#1, #3, #14, #17, #20] Hydrophone/satellite/sensor setup and analysis software, purchase of deep-rated ROV/AUV systems (multiple units), communications interception setup, evidence-archiving hardware, and initial sample/storage hardware.

Facilities $5.0M

[#13] Construction/adaptation of a long-term secure storage facility (dry-stack dock/subterranean hangar/fortified pier) estimated mid-range.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $2.0M

[#7, #18, #19] BSL-2/3 bioforensics lab setup and initial testing, hydrodynamics/research equipment and modelling capabilities, and initial forensic/historical investigation setup.

Heavy Lifting And Drydocking $2.0M

[#4] Costs for heavy-lift barges, tugs, cranes and drydocking for transit/salvage (mid-range).

Controlled Neutralization $2.0M

[#12] Costs for deliberate scuttling/scrapping/demolition and hazardous waste disposal if required.

Insurance Escrow Initial $2.0M

[#16] Initial reserve/escrow and special-risk policy placement to underwrite salvage and remediation.

Legal And Diplomatic $1.5M

[#10] One-time negotiation, permits, cross-border legal work and initial diplomatic engagement costs.

Declassification And Transfer $1.5M

[#25] One-time costs to safely transfer, preserve, or prepare hull/components for retention or transfer under secrecy (museumification/legal transfer costs).

Hazardous Materials Remediation $1.0M

[#6] Initial seabed/contamination remediation and environmental response (mid-range of estimate).

Covert Ops $1.0M

[#11] One-time disinformation/settlement/cover-up expenditures and contingency funds for managing initial disclosures.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $14.8M/yr

Staff Wages $4.5M/yr

[#8, #9] Salaries for specialist team (naval/nuclear engineers, ROV pilots, linguists, analysts, vets/pathologists) and on-site security/guard presence.

Vessel Operations $4.5M/yr

[#2] Crewing, maintenance and recurring operating costs for owned research/salvage vessel(s) (if purchased rather than chartered).

Research And Monitoring $1.2M/yr

[#7, #18, #19] Ongoing bio/pathology analyses, hydrodynamic research staff, forensic/historical investigation costs and recurring lab analyses.

Facilities Maintenance $1.0M/yr

[#13] Ongoing maintenance, security and utilities for the secure storage facility.

Supplies And Consumables $800K/yr

[#22] Fuel, ship/helicopter time where not chartered, winch cables, ROV umbilicals, PPE and small tools.

Deep Ocean Monitoring $500K/yr

[#1] Ongoing leasing/operations of acoustic networks, satellite tasking, AIS filtering and real-time analysis operations.

Contingency Asw Retainer $500K/yr

[#15] Standby retainer for naval/ASW assets or private contractors on-call.

Insurance And Escrow $500K/yr

[#16] Annual premiums and maintained legal reserves/escrow for operations and liability.

Cover Story And Legal $400K/yr

[#10, #11, #25] Ongoing legal liaison, diplomatic retainer and active media/whistleblower management.

Communications Monitoring $200K/yr

[#14] Ongoing interception, translation and spectrum monitoring of broadcasts; linguist staffing.

Rov Maintenance $150K/yr

[#3] Spares, consumables and maintenance for deep-rated ROV/AUV systems.

Hazardous Monitoring $100K/yr

[#6] Ongoing environmental monitoring and remediation follow-up.

Evidence Archiving Ops $100K/yr

[#17] Secure digital/physical archive maintenance, IT redundancy and translation workload.

Port And Mooring $100K/yr

[#21] Annual mooring, dock fees and utilities while components are stored or worked on.

Medical And Safety $100K/yr

[#24] Occupational health, radiation monitoring and mental-health support for staff.

Training And Drills $75K/yr

[#23] Regular readiness, salvage, radiological and media-response exercises.

Sample Storage Ops $30K/yr

[#20] Cold/frozen storage upkeep and sample integrity testing.

Logistics And Transport $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $14.8M/yr

85.0% probability / year

Normal year with ongoing monitoring, research, vessel operations and maintenance; no major salvage or public exposure events.

routine_monitoring scheduled_research_ops

🚨 Minor Incident $15.3M/yr

10.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline

Localized sighting or short-notice intervention requiring chartered vessel/ROV deployment and surge staffing for a limited-duration operation.

surface_sighting fisher_report brief_broadcast_activity

🚨 Major Salvage And Defueling $82.3M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$67.5M vs baseline

Full salvage, heavy lifting and nuclear defueling/decommissioning operation requiring multi-agency coordination and large one-time expenditures.

decision_to_recover_hull reactor_defueling_required international_legal_action

🚨 Political Exposure $19.8M/yr

3.0% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline

Media leak or foreign government exposure forcing emergency diplomacy, legal settlements, expanded PR and accelerated remediation.

public_leak foreign_navy_intervention whistleblower_disclosure

👥 Personnel 42 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist	8	Hydrodynamics, anomalous-behavior researchers and lab leads. Mapped to recurring research_and_monitoring [#18].
Naval Engineer / Nuclear Engineer	4	Vessel and reactor specialists for assessment and defueling planning. Mapped to staff_wages [#5, #8].
ROV Pilot / Technician	6	Deep-rated ROV/AUV operators and maintainers. Mapped to staff_wages and rov_maintenance [#3, #8].
Linguist / Intelligence Analyst	2	Translation and broadcast analysis for Russian messages. Mapped to communications_monitoring and staff_wages [#14, #8].
Veterinarian / Pathologist	1	Bioforensics and specimen analysis personnel. Mapped to initial_research_and_lab_setup and research_and_monitoring [#7].
Security Officer / MTF Agent	18	Armed security, boarding teams and on-site guards; mapped to staff_wages and security estimates [#9].
Site Director / Administrative Staff	3	Program management, legal liaison and administration. Mapped to staff_wages and cover_story_and_legal [#10].
Medical Officer	1	Occupational health and radiation monitoring. Mapped to medical_and_safety [#24].
Engineer / Maintenance	2	Facility, mooring and equipment maintenance staff. Mapped to facilities_maintenance [#13].

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates are based on broad analyst ranges in the notes; major uncertainties remain around reactor fuel state (which drives very large one-time costs), whether vessels are purchased versus chartered, and the chosen secrecy/cover strategy.

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