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SCP-1459 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-1459
Expected annual
$1.2M
One-time setup
$760K
Annual recurring
$1.1M
Personnel
12
One-time setup and contingency reserves are moderate (~$760k), while recurring annual costs are dominated by staff wages, ongoing research/testing and legal/cover-up/insurance, totaling about $1.135M/year.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $760K
Incident Response Reserve $250K
[#18] Reserved contingency for rapid containment upgrades, emergency contracting, heavy-lift/relocation and overtime.
Legal Contingency Initial $200K
[#17] Initial legal/cover-up contingency to establish covert narratives, retain counsel and seed contingency payable funds.
Facilities $150K
[#1] Secure containment vault build-out to house the machine, corridor, antechamber, door and tamper-proof fittings.
Equipment $61K
[#3, #4, #5, #22] UPS & monitoring, intrusion/tamper/access control hardware, CCTV/camera/recorder install, initial secure communications hardware.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $25K
[#11, #15] Initial pathology/necropsy bench, basic lab instruments, initial sequencing instrument hookups and lab setup.
Initial Background Checks And Vetting $24K
[#16] Initial security vetting, background checks and clearances for on-site staff (fingerprinting, polygraphs where used).
Hvac Installation $15K
[#2] Vault environmental controls and HVAC tie-in, filtered air and humidity controls, BMS integration.
Technician Training And Selection $10K
[#7] Training/selection cost for MT Valera replacement/backup and supervised trainee sessions.
Replacement Recruitment $10K
[#21] Recruitment and cross-training cost for at least one replacement hire.
Biobank Initialization $10K
[#26] Initial cold-storage/biobank setup and cataloging for archived specimens.
Initial Ppe And Inventory $5K
[#13] Baseline inventory of PPE, consumables, specimen tubes, labels, disinfectants.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.1M/yr
Staff Wages $755K/yr
[#6, #7, #10, #14] Security guards (6), maintenance technician, medical on-call staffing, and research staff salaries (1 senior + 2 junior).
Research And Monitoring $140K/yr
[#11, #15, #25] Per-test necropsy/pathology, sequencing and specialized testing for assumed baseline testing cadence (per-test variable costs aggregated).
Cover Story And Legal $120K/yr
[#17, #24] Ongoing legal/PR retainer, insurance, permits and occasional payments/reimbursements to maintain cover narratives.
Amnestic Program $20K/yr
[#9] Pharmaceutical procurement and administration budget for offered mild amnestics and medical oversight.
Facilities Maintenance $19K/yr
[#2, #3, #4, #22] HVAC operation/energy and maintenance, UPS maintenance, access-control support, secure-communications ongoing operations and minor facility upkeep.
Logistics And Transport $15K/yr
[#12] Carcass/sample transport, disposal contract costs and biohazard waste handling (scaled to baseline testing volume).
Data Management And Archiving $15K/yr
[#19] Secure documentation, digital/physical archiving, evidence retention systems and storage costs.
Vetting And Reinvestigation $12K/yr
[#16] Ongoing reinvestigations, periodic background rechecks and security training refreshers.
Video Storage And Backup $10K/yr
[#5] Continuous high-resolution CCTV/audio storage, secure offsite backups and retention.
Psychological Services $10K/yr
[#8] Ongoing counseling and personnel mental-health monitoring for technician and associated staff.
Oversight And Ethics $10K/yr
[#20] Internal oversight committee operations, meeting overhead and administrative time for ongoing testing approvals.
Supplies And Consumables $8K/yr
[#13, #23] Ongoing PPE, cleaning supplies, consumables, small food-safety/cookie-test batches and replacement inventory.
Biobank Storage $1K/yr
[#26] Annual cold-storage fees and LN2/−80°C maintenance for archived specimens.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.1M/yr
92.0% probability / year
Normal year with ongoing testing at baseline cadence and no major incidents.
routine testing cadence no breaches standard staffing
🚨 Minor Incident $1.2M/yr
5.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Small containment incident or localized exposure requiring temporary shutdown, extra testing and modest legal/PR response.
localized contamination minor unauthorized access small public complaint
🚨 Major Breach $1.6M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline
Significant unauthorized disclosure or containment failure requiring large-scale remediation, investigation and public damage control.
public exposure of animal deaths evidence discovered by third parties major system failure
🚨 Research Breakthrough Requiring Scale Up $1.9M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$800K vs baseline
Opportunity-driven scenario: a research breakthrough prompts rapid scale-up of testing and staff/equipment investments.
promising anomalous data executive order to expand testing external research collaboration
👥 Personnel 12 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 6 6 guards to provide 24/7 coverage (three 8-hour shifts) per note #6; salary estimate included in staff_wages.
Research Scientist 3 1 senior researcher + 2 junior researchers/lab techs as per note #14; salaries included in staff_wages.
Maintenance Technician 1 Primary MT Valera or replacement; salary and training budget accounted for in staff_wages and one-time training (#7).
Medical Officer 1 Part-time/on-call medic for testing and emergencies per note #10; pro-rated salary included in staff_wages.
Administrative Staff 1 Administrative/records support for logs, access control and cover communications; salary included in staff_wages.
📋 Confidence Notes
Containment hardware and personnel costs are well-defined (medium confidence) but the dominant uncertainty is testing cadence and incident probability, which can swing recurring costs by large factors.
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