SCP-025 — SCP-025 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-025 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-025

Expected annual

$2.9M

One-time setup

$26.1M

Annual recurring

$2.9M

Personnel

Total one-time capital is dominated by an optional BSL-4 escalation; baseline containment and research can be established for modest capital outlay. Main recurring drivers are personnel payroll, insurance/reserve allocations, and ongoing research/consumables.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $26.1M

Bsl4 Facility Option $25.0M

[#3] Full BSL-4 level facility construction contingency (extreme escalation if required).

Facilities $350K

[#1, #2] Secure containment room build/retrofit and modest BSL-3 upgrade (reinforced room, access control, CCTV, negative-pressure modifications and structural work).

Equipment $180K

[#4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9] Climate-control unit, remote handling rig, instrumented mannequins, explosion/contamination-rated cameras and sensors, freezers (-80/-20), and on-site autoclave.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $150K

[#16] Pathology/necropsy and microbiology equipment, biosafety cabinets, microscopes and related lab instruments for a small containment lab.

Armored Vehicle Purchase $150K

[#19] Purchase of an armored/locked climate-controlled vehicle for secure transfers (optional buy vs contract).

Remote Handling Tooling $100K

[#5] Telemanipulators / sealed glovebox systems to avoid personnel donning items.

Autoclave Decon Washer $30K

[#9] On-site autoclave and decontamination washer for contaminated materials.

Specialized Training Initial $30K

[#13] Initial biosafety and remote-handling training and drills.

Power Backup System $30K

[#22] Generator/UPS sizing for critical loads (freezers, negative-pressure HVAC, alarms).

Redundant Containment And Transfer Cases $18K

[#31] Sealed transport cases, mobile gloveboxes and emergency PPE crash-packs for rapid relocation.

Observation Recording Equipment $15K

[#7] Redundant, rated cameras/microphones/environmental sensors and live consoles.

Digital Security Setup $15K

[#23] Encrypted camera storage, audit-logging, and secure remote access baseline setup.

Freezers Sample Storage $14K

[#8] -80°C and -20°C freezers for sample storage and chain-of-custody facilities.

Climate Control Unit $12K

[#4] Small dedicated HVAC/humidity control unit for artifact preservation inside containment.

Mannequins Instrumented $8K

[#6] Instrumented non-biological dummies for safe testing and sensors.

Environmental Monitoring System $6K

[#21] Initial continuous monitoring hardware (negative-pressure sensors, logging gateways).

Textile Conservation Initial $6K

[#27] Initial acid-free boxes, inert supports, moth-proofing and conservation setup for fragile garments.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $2.9M/yr

Staff Wages $1.2M/yr

[#11] Salaries and benefits for 1 PI, 2 research scientists, 2 lab technicians, 4 security, 1 containment engineer, 1 medical officer, 1 admin (roll-up).

Contingent Insurance $300K/yr

[#33] Insurance premium / set-aside for large-loss catastrophic breach coverage.

Personnel Hazard Premium $281K/yr

[#12] Hazard pay / insurance / mental-health support premium (15–30% of payroll assumed).

Research And Monitoring $250K/yr

[#29] Core R&D program to study anomalous mechanism and staff time for experiments and analysis.

Supplies And Consumables $156K/yr

[#10, #15, #27] Consumable PPE replacement, laboratory disposables/reagents, and ongoing textile conservation supplies.

Vivarium Budget $100K/yr

[#18] Animal-model / ABSL-3 vivarium costs, vet care and oversight if used.

Quarantine Emergency Reserve $100K/yr

[#20] Annual reserve to enable emergency quarantine expansion, temporary facilities or relocation assistance.

Facilities Maintenance $80K/yr

[#32] Utilities allocation, janitorial for containment-rated cleaning, lease/depreciation allocation and general facility overheads.

Cover Story And Legal $75K/yr

[#24] Legal counsel, documentation, and cover-story management budget.

Medical Surveillance And Emergency Care $60K/yr

[#14] Routine screening, bloodwork, quarantine readiness and emergency medical care baseline.

External Testing Contracts $60K/yr

[#17] Budget for specialized external testing (sequencing, EM, BSL-4 contract work).

Waste Disposal And Remediation Reserve $50K/yr

[#28] Reserve for professional hazardous decontamination and site remediation.

Incident Investigation Reserve $25K/yr

[#26] Per-incident forensic/investigation budget allocation averaged annually.

Public Relations And Misinformation $15K/yr

[#25] PR, staged releases and misinformation mitigation budget.

Specialized Training Annual $12K/yr

[#13] Annual refresher courses and drills.

Hepa Replacement And Certification $12K/yr

[#21] HEPA filter replacement and periodic certification / testing.

Logistics And Transport $10K/yr

[#19] Operational costs for secure/climate-controlled transfers (per-move operations and courier costs).

Contract Incineration Disposal $10K/yr

[#9] Annual spend on contract medical waste incineration disposal.

Ethical Oversight $10K/yr

[#30] Internal review boards, compliance documentation and oversight costs.

Power Backup Maintenance $5K/yr

[#22] Fuel, testing and routine generator/UPS maintenance.

Digital Security Support $5K/yr

[#23] Annual support and updates for secure logging and IT systems.

Freezer Energy Maintenance $3K/yr

[#8] Energy and maintenance for ultra-low freezers and backup power cycling.

Camera Storage Maintenance $2K/yr

[#7] Storage, redundancy, and periodic maintenance for recording systems.

Climate Unit Energy $1K/yr

[#4] Ongoing energy cost for small climate-control/preservation unit.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $2.9M/yr

94.4% probability / year

Normal uneventful year with routine testing, maintenance, and research spending but no major incidents.

no incidents routine research scheduled maintenance

🚨 Minor Incident $3.0M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$100K vs baseline

Small containment incident or contaminated-testing event requiring cleanup, overtime, and limited investigation.

localized contamination single-test injury small forensic investigation

🚨 Major Breach $4.9M/yr

0.5% probability / year +$2.0M vs baseline

Significant accidental exposure or limited outbreak requiring extended quarantine, mass medical response, remediation and legal costs.

accidental exposure multiple infections facility contamination

🚨 Bsl4 Escalation $27.9M/yr

0.1% probability / year +$25.0M vs baseline

Evidence of high contagiousness forces immediate escalation to full BSL-4 containment and major facility construction/relocation.

confirmed high contagious necrotizing agent external agency mandate catastrophic risk revelation

👥 Personnel 12 total

Role	Count	Notes
Lead Researcher (PI)	1	[#11] Principal investigator leading SCP-025 research and containment program.
Research Scientist	2	[#11] Laboratory scientists conducting experiments and analyses.
Lab Technician	2	[#11] Technicians for sample handling, assays and equipment operation.
Security Officer / MTF Agent	4	[#11] Rotating security personnel controlling access and escorting during tests.
Engineer / Maintenance (Containment Technician)	1	[#11] Responsible for HVAC, negative pressure, HEPA and generator systems.
Medical Officer	1	[#11, #14] On-call EM physician / medical surveillance lead.
Administrative Staff	1	[#11] Administrative and documentation support, access control administration.

📋 Confidence Notes

Containment needs and many cost drivers are described and quantifiable (personnel, retrofit, consumables), but biological unknowns (contagiousness, outbreak scale) create wide variance and optional high-cost escalation paths.

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