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SCP-1078 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-1078
Expected annual
$908K
One-time setup
$872K
Annual recurring
$890K
Personnel
8
One-time startup costs are dominated by construction of a certified Faraday test room, specialized shielding/ HVAC work and a contingency reserve; recurring costs are dominated by staffing (medical, continuous behavioral monitoring, and security). Expected recurring/yearly operations are on the order of mid-six-figures due to these labor and readiness requirements.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $872K
Contingency Reserve $500K
[#26] One-time reserve fund to cover large-scale retrievals, protracted recovery or major containment failures.
Equipment $157K
[#2, #6, #7, #8, #17, #18, #20] Small Faraday cage around HDPE box (#2); shielded camera/intercom/recording systems (#6); EM spectrum analyzers and RF probes (#7); initial neurosurgical kit (#8); secure evidence hardware (#17); UPS/generator purchase (#18); transport cases and vehicle modification (#20).
Facilities $120K
[#1, #3, #4] HDPE containment box fabrication (#1), full-room Faraday enclosure construction (#3) and HVAC/filtering modifications to preserve RF integrity (#4).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $75K
[#14] Research instrumentation for sensory testing (EEG, calibrated audiovisual rigs, psychometric software and specialized recording equipment).
Initial Training And Sop Development $20K
[#24] Initial SOP development, staff training and certification for containment, suicide-watch procedures and Faraday operation (one-time curriculum and initial courses).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $890K/yr
Staff Wages $535K/yr
[#9, #10, #11] Combined recurring staffing costs: on-call medical staffing and specialist retainers plus nursing coverage (#9), continuous behavioral monitoring/sitter rotation costs (#10), and 24/7 security detachment costs (#11).
Administrative Overhead $120K/yr
[#27] Allocated facility overhead: admin, insurance-equivalents, HQ services and amortized shared costs.
Cover Story And Legal $50K/yr
[#22] Legal, cover-story, record suppression, liaising with authorities and information-security measures.
Rapid Retrieval Retainer $50K/yr
[#21] Standby retainer for rapid-retrieval field team readiness (airlift/vehicle standby, on-call team). Per-deployment spend modeled in scenarios.
Dclass Program Overhead $30K/yr
[#12] D-Class housing, food, utilities and basic medical/logistics for one experimental subject per year.
Amnestics And Personnel Processing $25K/yr
[#23] Budget for occasional amnestic treatments, administration and secure processing of affected personnel.
Or Access Retainer $12K/yr
[#8] OR access retainer/standby arrangements for emergency neurosurgical intervention (annual retainer estimate).
Research And Monitoring $10K/yr
[#6, #7, #14, #17] Ongoing maintenance/calibration of shielded monitoring systems (#6), EM equipment calibration & upkeep (#7), research instrumentation calibration (#14), and secure backup/monitoring maintenance (#17).
Psych Care And Meds $10K/yr
[#13] Ongoing psychiatric care, medications and counseling for host subjects.
Training And Audits $10K/yr
[#24] Annual refresher training, audits and certification of staff and SOP compliance.
Energy Operational Cost $10K/yr
[#19] Ongoing electricity for continuous HVAC and monitoring equipment in the shielded room.
Supplies And Consumables $6K/yr
[#25] PPE, cleaning supplies, single-use surgical disposables, replacement gaskets/seals and routine consumables.
Autopsy And Forensics $6K/yr
[#15] Per-death autopsy and forensic pathology costs (budgeted assuming ~1 autopsy/year at typical rates).
Logistics And Transport $5K/yr
[#20] Vehicle fuel/maintenance and transport-case upkeep for routine moves of host/object.
Facilities Maintenance $3K/yr
[#5] Annual Faraday-room maintenance and recertification (seal replacement, gasket servicing, shielding verification/testing).
Redundant Power Maintenance $3K/yr
[#18] Fuel, maintenance and testing for UPS/generator backup systems.
Biohazard Waste And Sterilization $3K/yr
[#16] Routine biohazard waste handling, contract disposal and sterilization cycles for containment after experiments or deaths.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $890K/yr
85.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with one monitored subject, routine maintenance and no major retrievals or containment failures.
routine experiments no vanishing/retrieval events no major legal exposure
🚨 Minor Incident $918K/yr
10.0% probability / year +$28K vs baseline
A subject self-terminates or a contained death requires an expedited retrieval/forensic response and extra decontamination/administrative work.
subject suicide or unexpected death single short-range retrieval mission extra autopsy and decon
🚨 Major Breach $1.2M/yr
5.0% probability / year +$288K vs baseline
Object vanishes and requires a long-distance field recovery, large deployment, elevated legal/cover costs and accelerated recertification/repair.
long-distance disappearance airlift/helicopter deployment public discovery requiring legal response
👥 Personnel 8 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 3 Covering 24/7 security detachment; FTE aggregate corresponds to the security staffing budget in staff_wages [#11].
Medical Officer / On-call Specialist 3 Nursing shift coverage plus neurosurgeon/anesthesiologist retainer and rapid-response med staff; headcount represents FTEs covered by combined medical wage budget [#8, #9].
Behavioral Monitor / Watcher 2 Continuous suicide-watch personnel (rotation) for monitored subject(s); corresponds to behavioral monitoring budget in staff_wages [#10].
📋 Confidence Notes
Containment hardware and staffing needs are well-described in analyst notes and the article, so order-of-magnitude estimates are reliable; ranges on specialized shielding, legal exposure and field-retrieval frequency introduce moderate uncertainty, hence medium confidence.
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