← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-001-QNTM-S-PROPOSAL Safe ~ medium confidence
qntm's proposal
Expected annual
$2.4M
One-time setup
$8.2M
Annual recurring
$2.4M
Personnel
14
Initial one-time setup including acquisition, specialized instrumentation and contingency reserves is approximately $8.24M, with recurring annual costs ~ $2.38M driven mainly by security staffing and a dedicated research team; occasional campaigns or incidents can add millions in a given year.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $8.2M
Initial Research And Lab Setup $2.8M
[#9, #11] Capital-grade microscopy/instrumentation purchase path and custom instrumentation R&D for non-contact/high-resolution analysis (capital purchases and R&D buildout).
Field Expedition $1.5M
[#14] Archaeological/reconnaissance expedition to locate origin site: permits, security, excavation and conservation over months.
Extreme Test Campaign $1.0M
[#12] Cost estimate for an extensive destructive/non-nuclear test campaign (lasers, furnaces, explosive trials, special facilities, insurance and remediation) for a single campaign.
Contingency Fund $1.0M
[#19] One-time contingency/reserve fund to cover unexpected containment, relocation or emergency experiments.
Decommissioning $1.0M
[#24] Budget placeholder for a future authorized destruction/neutralization campaign, environmental remediation and shutdown costs (highly scenario-dependent).
Acquisition And Immediate Cover $500K
[#1] Purchase of SCP-001 and associated journal from museum via front organization plus immediate legal/PR cover and transfer hush costs.
Facilities $150K
[#3] Reinforced vault/specialized storage construction, installation, testing per site-vault requirements.
Rapid Extraction Vehicle $150K
[#17] Purchase of armoured/secure transport vehicle and emergency containment kits for rapid-extraction capability.
Equipment $80K
[#4, #5, #6] Faraday/shielding enclosure, conservation-grade display/mount, and initial surveillance/alarm/CCTV installation (one-time hardware and installation costs).
Legal And Regulatory One Time $50K
[#20] One-time permits, covert legal fees, regulatory clearances associated with acquisition/major operations.
Secure Transport Initial $30K
[#2] Bespoke crate, environmental controls, armed courier/charter for the initial transfer from museum to Foundation site.
Conservation And Archival One Time $30K
[#15] Initial high-resolution digitization, conservation repairs, specialist translation fees and archival treatment for the journal.
Nuclear Option $0
[#13] Nuclear detonation option is legally and politically infeasible in practice; dollar-range estimates exist but are not practicable and therefore not budgeted as a legitimate containment expense.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $2.4M/yr
Staff Wages $1.5M/yr
[#7, #8] 24/7 physical security (6 guards, loaded cost ≈ $470k/yr) and dedicated research team salaries & overhead (loaded ≈ $1,000k/yr).
Administrative Overhead $300K/yr
[#23] Opportunity cost / institutional overhead (estimated ~25–30% of direct research salaries and related administrative burden).
Facilities Maintenance $204K/yr
[#6, #21] Surveillance/system maintenance (~$2k–6k/yr) plus vault electricity, monitoring and periodic inspection/operational upkeep (~$200k/yr estimate).
Research And Monitoring $150K/yr
[#9, #10] Recurring access/beamtime and specialized campaign budgets (synchrotron/neutron/beamline campaigns ~ $50k each and external microscopy/beamtime access ~$50k–$100k/yr baseline).
Cover Story And Legal $75K/yr
[#16] Front organization, PR, legal retainer and bookkeeping to maintain provenance/cover and manage FOIA/press risks.
Incident Response And Vehicles $50K/yr
[#17] Recurring staffing, maintenance and on-call charges for the rapid-response team and vehicle upkeep.
Regulatory And Diplomatic $50K/yr
[#20] Annual regulatory, permitting baseline and liaison fees for fieldwork and international activities.
Supplies And Consumables $30K/yr
[#18] Cryogens, vacuum consumables, precision tooling, FIB consumables, PPE and specialized tooling for sampling and testing.
Recordkeeping And Censorship $30K/yr
[#22] Secure digital records, classified data handling, sysadmin and information suppression/legal review costs.
Logistics And Transport $15K/yr
[#2] Recurring costs for occasional secure transport/charter/courier and associated cover paperwork for transfers or field operations.
Conservation And Archival Recurring $10K/yr
[#15] Ongoing conservation, secure storage fees and specialist translation/archival study costs per year.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $2.4M/yr
95.5% probability / year
Normal, uneventful year with routine monitoring, research access campaigns already budgeted in recurring costs.
routine_monitoring scheduled_beamtime no_security_incidents
🚨 Minor Incident $2.5M/yr
3.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline
Small containment incident or transport accident requiring emergency response, temporary relocation, overtime and repairs.
tampering_attempt transport_damage localized environmental failure
🚨 Major Breach $3.9M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$1.5M vs baseline
Coordinated theft, major security lapse or public exposure requiring large-scale recovery, legal action and extended suppression operations.
coordinated_theft insider_compromise significant_public_leak
🚨 Research Breakthrough Requiring Scale Up $4.4M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$2.0M vs baseline
Decision to pursue an aggressive research program (additional capital purchases or multiple high-cost campaigns) beyond initial setup.
new_imaging_technology_needed mandated_destructive_campaign major_expedition_approved
👥 Personnel 14 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 6 [#7] 24/7 guard coverage: 2guards/shift × 3 shifts = 6 guards; loaded salary costs included in staff_wages.
Principal Investigator / Senior Researcher 1 [#8] Lead PI overseeing experiments and curation; salary included in research team budget.
Senior Research Scientist 2 [#8] Senior scientists for materials analysis and project leadership; salaries included in research team budget.
Postdoctoral Researcher 2 [#8] Postdocs assisting advanced analysis and experiments; salaries included in research team budget.
Lab Technician 2 [#8] Technicians supporting instrumentation, sample prep and conservation; salaries included in research team budget.
Conservator / Archivist 1 [#15] Specialist for journal conservation, digitization and curation; salary included in research team budget.
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates derive from explicit analyst ranges but many line items are optional, highly scenario-dependent, and include large ranges (e.g., capital instruments, field expeditions, extreme-testing). Reasonable midpoints are used but uncertainties remain significant for major campaigns and legally infeasible options.
← SCP-001-PROTASI-TOU-AGS ↑ All SCPs SCP-001-QUEERIOUS-PROPOSAL →