The shape of prime base

[Gelrir]

$110 million and $310 million in 1964 dollars are, with inflation:

• 1980: $266 million and $824 million
• 2005: $693 million and $1,952 million

Our current campaign does feature a few fusion-powered laser-equipped TBMs, used in the creation of Prime Base and some of the larger depots. Somewhere (probably in Prime Base) are a hundred frozen mining engineers and techs who each know the location of several -- all? -- Big Bunkers.

The "central modules" of Prime Base total over 119,000 square meters = 1.2 million square feet. The area/volume of the Mission Complex is only described as "several acres" in size; there's also the 4.5 kilometer tunnel from Prime itself to the Mission Complex. 3 acres is about 131,000 square feet, plus about 221,000 square feet of access tunnel, for a total of over 1.55 million square feet -- 15 times larger than the "moderate" sized Deep Underground Command Center. So Prime Base might cost:

• 1980: $12 billion
• 2005: $30 billion

Of course construction methods, purpose, installed equipment, secrecy, salaries, etc. vary widely between a NORAD-type bunker and Prime Base, but it's a first guess.

Average labor costs, including benefits and payroll taxes, are roughly one-quarter of construction costs. Structural metal workers earned about $25,000 per year in 1980; if the base took 10 years to build, annual labor costs would be $300 million, or the salaries for 12,000 workers.* If only one-twentieth are "on-site" (which seems low, but the Project has plenty of reasons to limit exposure), that's about 600 people in an average year. Steel workers, truck drivers, electricians, concrete form builders, cooks, structural and civil engineers, crane operators, forklift operators, welders, pipefitters, safety inspectors, painters, TBM crew, etc. etc. The actual number would fluctuate depending on the phase of construction; and the mix of jobs would change. I'd guess at least 2,000 different people worked at Prime Base over a 10 year construction period.

*The Project may or may not be paying wages, taxes, etc. but the DUCC project used for comparison certainly would. We're more interested here in the size of the labor force, not the cost of labor.

--
Michael B.