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SCP-1426 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-1426
Expected annual
$790K
One-time setup
$882K
Annual recurring
$767K
Personnel
3.7
Initial one-time setup is moderate-to-high (~$0.9M) driven mainly by potential biocontainment upgrades and research lab capital; routine annual operations are ~ $0.77M/year dominated by staff wages and recurring analytical access/overhead. Rare major incidents (theft/loss/containment failure) can add large one-off costs (hundreds of thousands).
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $882K
Facilities $507K
[#1, #12] Locker installation and hardened mounting (~$7,000) plus contingent BSL-3 upgrade structural work (chosen mid-range estimate ~$500,000).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $146K
[#5, #7, #8, #9, #14, #25, #26] Autoclave/sterilization and ultrasonic (~$26,250), glovebox upgrade (~$30,000), thermal handling containers & furnace (~$30,000), cryogenic setup including dewars/transfer/ULT (~$24,000), sample prep tooling (~$20,000), environmental monitoring (~$8,000), archival storage setup (~$8,000).
Contingency Reserve Seed $100K
[#22] Seed contingency / insurance fund (recommended minimum seed ~$100,000).
Risk Reserve Initial $100K
[#30] Initial risk premium/reserve for unexpected exotic-material responses (~$100,000 initial).
Equipment $10K
[#2] Physical site security and CCTV/motion sensor installation (~$10,000 capital).
Sop Development $10K
[#24] One-time SOP development and approval (~$10,000).
Ppe And Initial Training $9K
[#11] Initial PPE kits and initial staff training (~6 personnel @ $500 kit + ~$6,000 initial training).
Amnestic Facility Setup $0
[#19] [] (no dedicated one-time amnestic production facility purchase assumed; ongoing overhead budgeted in recurring costs).
Analytical Instrumentation Purchase $0
[#13] [] (capital purchase of full instrumentation suite not assumed; recurring access budget allocated instead).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $767K/yr
Staff Wages $336K/yr
[#3, #4, #27, #20] Salaries and labor: 1senior research scientist, 1 postdoc, 1 technician plus administrative oversight and medic allocation; includes per-test labor/approval overhead estimated from per-test rates.
Research And Monitoring $158K/yr
[#13, #24, #26] Analytical instrumentation access/service (~$150,000/yr), recurring SOP/training refreshers (~$6,000/yr), archival audits/custody (~$2,000/yr).
Cover Story And Legal $90K/yr
[#18, #19, #28] Legal/cover operations, amnestic program overhead allocation and government liaison/public relations (~$90,000/yr combined allocation).
Facilities Maintenance $45K/yr
[#1, #2, #7, #8, #9, #10, #12, #25] Locker/software maintenance (~$500), security monitoring/storage (~$3,500), glovebox service/cal (~$3,000), thermal/cryo equipment maintenance and LN2 supply (~$5,000), additional HVAC/generator/electrical load (~$10,000), annual biocontainment certification if applied (~$20,000), calibration (~$3,000).
Supplies And Consumables $33K/yr
[#5, #6, #7, #14, #11, #20, #29] Sterilization consumables (~$1,250), sterile consumables and sample boxes (~$1,000), glovebox gloves/filters (~$1,500), sample prep consumables (~$15,000), PPE replacements/refresher (~$800), medical supplies (~$3,000), general lab overhead consumables (~$10,000).
Materials Disposal $20K/yr
[#15] Annual budget for hazardous disposal/decontamination operations (~$20,000/yr).
Recovery Operations $20K/yr
[#23] Annual budget for occasional recovery/theft-response standby (~$20,000/yr baseline; per-incident costs can be much higher).
Insurance And Contingency Replenish $20K/yr
[#22] Annual replenishment allocation for contingency/reserve (~$20,000/yr).
Risk Reserve Topup $20K/yr
[#30] Annual top-up to risk/reserve fund for unexpected exotic-material responses (~$20,000/yr).
Logistics And Transport $12K/yr
[#17] Sample transport and secure temperature-controlled transfers (~$12,000/yr baseline for routine movement).
It Security $10K/yr
[#21] Encrypted storage, secure logging, backups and audits (~$10,000/yr).
Drill Maintenance $3K/yr
[#16] Drill and bit maintenance, sharpening and small replacements (~$3,000/yr).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $767K/yr
83.0% probability / year
Normal, uneventful year with routine testing, maintenance, instrumentation access and no major incidents.
routine_testing no_loss_or_public_exposure
🚨 Minor Incident $817K/yr
15.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Localized contamination event, single-sample loss/theft or small public exposure requiring modest recovery, legal and decontamination actions.
single_sample_contamination minor_public_exposure small_recovery_operation
🚨 Major Recovery Operation $1.6M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$800K vs baseline
Theft or loss of an anomalous bit or containment breach that requires a large field recovery, public operations, legal fallout and possibly an immediate biocontainment upgrade.
theft_or_loss_of_bit major_public_exposure containment_failure
👥 Personnel 3.7 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist (senior) 1 Lead scientist handling approvals, design and oversight; salary allocation included in staff_wages.
Postdoc / Research Associate 1 Dedicated researcher performing tests and analysis; salary included in staff_wages.
Technician 1 Lab technician for preparation, sterilization and sample handling; salary included in staff_wages.
Administrative Staff 0.5 Part-time admin time for record-keeping, scheduling and sign-off coordination; portion of salary included in staff_wages.
Medical Officer / On-call Medic 0.2 On-call medical allocation for emergency readiness (partial FTE equivalent); included in staff_wages.
📋 Confidence Notes
Many routine costs are well-estimated (staffing, access fees, consumables) giving moderate confidence, but large uncertainty remains around contingent items (BSL-3 upgrades, major recoveries, full instrumentation purchases) which could dramatically increase one-time and annual costs.
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