SCP-9876 — SCP-9876 - Dawn of Darkness

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SCP-9876 Unknown ? low confidence

SCP-9876 - Dawn of Darkness

Expected annual

$2.9M

One-time setup

$9.3M

Annual recurring

$2.7M

Personnel

Initial containment and monitoring setup requires multi-million-dollar one-time investments (R&D, contingency reserve, and exploration program are the largest drivers). Recurring annual costs are driven primarily by specialized staff wages, exploration operations, and contingency/top-up budgeting totaling roughly $2.66M/yr.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $9.3M

Contingency Reserve $5.0M

[#20] Initial contingency/disaster remediation reserve set aside for catastrophic breach/site remediation.

Exploration Program $1.5M

[#14] One-time costs for initial unmanned probe design/testing and mission program setup (small multi-probe campaign).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $1.1M

[#12, #13] Initial analytical laboratory campaign and specialized detector R&D design/build (cryogenic infrastructure and bespoke instruments).

Equipment $715K

[#1, #5, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #15] Container fitout, initial electronic security hardware, monitoring instrumentation, mechanical interlocks, robotics suite, PPE kits, environmental-control hardware, and initial secure data servers/network hardware.

Decommissioning $500K

[#25] Initial budgeting for safe neutralization/entombment/disposition planning.

Facilities $200K

[#6] EMI/EMC hardening (Faraday cage / RF-shielded chamber) structural work and filtered penetrations.

Emergency Response Equipment $120K

[#18] Hazmat trailers, decon tents, emergency power hardware purchased up-front.

Regulatory Compliance $50K

[#24] Up-front permitting, EM emissions study and environmental assessment fees.

Transport And Emplacement $40K

[#2] Heavy-lift transport, crane, secure convoy and safety escort for initial emplacement.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $2.7M/yr

Staff Wages $1.5M/yr

[#4, #16] Physical security staffing (24/7 guards) plus specialized scientists/engineers/PI/technicians salaries and benefits.

Exploration Operations $300K/yr

[#14] Ongoing mission ops for unmanned probes/tethered deployments, mission planning and data analysis teams.

Cover Story And Legal $250K/yr

[#19] Annual legal counsel, cover-story operations, OPSEC and misinformation budgets.

Contingency Topup $250K/yr

[#20] Annual top-up to contingency/disaster remediation reserve.

Research And Monitoring $210K/yr

[#7, #9, #12, #13, #15] Ongoing calibration/maintenance for monitoring instrumentation, robotics upkeep, recurring analytical runs, detector operations, and data-analysis ops.

Utilities Energy $60K/yr

[#22] Power, cryogenics, active cooling and continuous utilities for shielded chamber and instrumentation.

Emergency Response Readiness $40K/yr

[#18] Annual drills, training, equipment upkeep and readiness costs.

Facilities Maintenance $22K/yr

[#3, #11] Site-19 secure storage overhead/HVAC share and ongoing environmental-control maintenance for specimen preservation.

Supplies And Consumables $18K/yr

[#10, #23] PPE replenishment, decontamination consumables, small tools, spare parts and routine replacements.

Medical Surveillance $15K/yr

[#17] Occupational health, periodic exams, microwave exposure monitoring and mental-health support for the team.

Regulatory Reporting $15K/yr

[#24] Ongoing compliance reporting and occasional mitigation costs.

Electronic Security Maintenance $12K/yr

[#5] Annual maintenance and licensing for hardened access control, biometrics, CCTV and logging systems.

Curation And Cataloging $12K/yr

[#21] Long-term curation, periodic inspection and archival metadata upkeep.

Logistics And Transport $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $2.7M/yr

85.0% probability / year

Normal, uneventful year with routine research, maintenance, and operations only.

no incidents scheduled research only

🚨 Minor Incident $2.9M/yr

10.0% probability / year +$250K vs baseline

Localized containment incident requiring repairs, limited remediation, medical follow-up and legal consultation.

small containment breach equipment failure limited staff exposure

🚨 Major Breach $7.7M/yr

3.0% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline

Significant containment failure requiring large-scale remediation, site repairs, contingency fund drawdown and extended operations.

major containment breach structural damage extended remediation

🚨 Political Exposure $5.2M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$2.5M vs baseline

Public/political exposure event requiring sustained cover operations, litigation, large-scale misinformation and PR/legal settlement.

public leak high-profile incident litigation or government inquiry

👥 Personnel 17 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	8	[#4] Dedicated 24/7 guards (two per shift plus overlap/supervision) as specified in analyst notes.
Research Scientist	4	[#16] PI and core scientists (EM physicists, anomaly specialists) forming the research team.
Engineer / Maintenance	2	[#16] Mechanical/cryogenics/electrical engineers to maintain detectors, robotics and shielded chamber.
Technician / Lab Assistant	2	[#16] Technicians for sample prep, instrumentation operation and remote manipulation support.
Administrative Staff	1	[#4, #16] Small administrative/ops oversight to coordinate logistics, legal requests and budgeting.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates use analyst ranges but the object is highly anomalous with large uncertain tail risks (R&D outcomes, breach severity and exploration costs). Wide ranges and contingent policies reduce confidence.

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