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SCP-1721 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-1721
Expected annual
$713K
One-time setup
$536K
Annual recurring
$699K
Personnel
3
One-time setup costs are modest-to-moderate and dominated by ML/software development and secure data/archive hardware; recurring costs are driven primarily by personnel (research, transcription/annotation, security) and ongoing ML/translation maintenance, yielding annual operations near $700k in an active research posture.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $536K
Initial Research And Lab Setup $440K
[#7, #9, #14, #15, #20, #25, #17, #24] Translation backlog, secure transcript software development, initial ML 'translating' project (staff + compute), compliance/legal setup, initial forensic analysis, decommissioning capability, SOP development, and initial cover-story contingency funding.
Equipment $62K
[#1, #8, #10, #12, #22] Museum-grade foam-lined case, initial air-gapped/HSM hardware portion, high-res scanners/cameras, containment tooling, and three secure workstations (hardware).
Facilities $22K
[#2, #21] Site locker fit-out and mounting/rails/alarm integration plus initial archival climate-control/boxing setup.
Background Checks $12K
[#4] One-time enhanced background investigations for ~6 authorized staff (midpoint estimate).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $699K/yr
Research And Monitoring $326K/yr
[#23, #14, #20, #9] Ongoing research program budget, ML model maintenance and engineering, follow-up forensic/material testing, and software licensing & maintenance for secure transcript systems.
Staff Wages $225K/yr
[#3, #5, #7] Incremental security staffing/overtime, senior researcher + technician payroll and benefits, and recurring linguist support (salaried FTE equivalents).
Transcription And Redaction Contractors $54K/yr
[#6] Contractor transcription, redaction, and manual processing (600–1,500 hours/yr midpoint).
Incident Response Reserve $30K/yr
[#18] Annual contingency reserve for incident response, emergency containment, cleanup, and legal/medical costs (midpoint).
Cover Story And Legal $15K/yr
[#24, #15] Annual maintenance of cover-story assets and recurring legal/privacy monitoring and counsel.
Psychological Support $12K/yr
[#16] Employee assistance, counseling, and monitoring for staff exposed to SCP-1721 outputs.
Supplies And Consumables $12K/yr
[#11, #12, #10, #13] Consumable archival media and replacement boards, replacement containment tooling parts, scanner/camera consumables and calibration, and conservator supplies/cleaning.
Logistics And Transport $8K/yr
[#19] Secure transport (armored courier / guarded transfer) for 1–3 transfers per year (midpoint).
Facilities Maintenance $6K/yr
[#2, #21, #22] Locker calibration/maintenance, archival climate-control monitoring, and secure workstation support/maintenance.
Data Storage And Backups $6K/yr
[#8] Ongoing maintenance, electricity, and off-site backup costs for air-gapped encrypted storage and HSMs.
Training And Refreshers $4K/yr
[#17] Annual refresher training, SOP refreshers, and tabletop exercises to mitigate following SCP-1721-3 advice.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $699K/yr
95.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with active research, regular maintenance, and no major incidents.
routine testing and translation work no major incidents or breaches
🚨 Minor Incident $789K/yr
4.0% probability / year +$90K vs baseline
Localized incident: staff act on harmful advice, minor contamination, or small data leak requiring cleanup and legal action.
staff follow harmful SCP-1721-3 advice small-scale contamination or output damage
🚨 Major Breach $1.7M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline
Significant security/operational failure (Cole Process output exploited or public exposure) triggering large-scale response, legal, and reputational costs.
Cole Process produces actionable harmful material public exposure or multi-site incident
👥 Personnel 3 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 1 [#5] Senior researcher time (0.5–1.0 FTE assumed here at 1.0 FTE equivalent for budgeting).
Lab Technician 1 [#5] Technician support for experiments, logging, and supervised sessions (1.0 FTE).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 0.5 [#3] Incremental security coverage (0.25–1.0 FTE range; midpoint used).
Linguist / Translator 0.5 [#7] Recurring linguist support for translation and literary analysis (0.25–0.5 FTE; midpoint used).
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line items and ranges enabling mid-range estimates, but many items (ML development, research scope, incident frequency) have wide ranges and depend on operational posture; therefore confidence is medium.
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