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SCP-1981 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-1981
Expected annual
$366K
One-time setup
$184K
Annual recurring
$361K
Personnel
5
Estimated one-time setup costs are approximately $184,000 driven by archival installation, specialized conservation, vintage playback/capture equipment, and initial amnestic/legal preparedness. Recurring annual costs are approximately $361,000/yr, dominated by staff wages, legal/amnestic readiness, and archival/AV maintenance.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $184K
Amnestic Program Setup $50K
[#14] One-time establishment costs for secure administration facilities, training and equipment for amnestic operations and witness management.
Equipment $48K
[#2, #3, #4, #5, #6] Mu-metal/shielding and Gauss meter; purchase of multiple vintage Betamax players and parts stock; analog TV, time-base corrector, capture workstation and initial SAN/NAS encryption appliance.
Incident Response Reserve One Time $25K
[#18] One-time seed for incident-response reserves (supplements recurring investigation fund for large incidents).
Legal Incident Response Fund $20K
[#15] Initial fund for rapid legal/PR incident response and retainer initiation (incident-specific response budgets are additional).
Facilities $15K
[#1] Dedicated archival cabinet/vault installation with climate control hookups, shelving, signage and minor electrical work.
Forensic Analysis $12K
[#11] Initial forensic campaign to verify tape composition, serials, and rule out tampering.
Tape Conservation $8K
[#10] Professional tape stabilization, cleaning, possible baking and high-quality transfer.
Training And Sop Development $6K
[#16] Creation of containment SOPs, initial staff training and documentation.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $361K/yr
Staff Wages $220K/yr
[#7, #8] Pro-rated PI and research staff, research assistant/archivist, AV technician (partial FTE), and minimal dedicated security coverage (on-call/dedicated for viewings).
Cover Story And Legal $43K/yr
[#14, #15, #21] Annual legal/PR retainer, operational costs for amnestic administration program, and secure redaction/classified document handling budgets.
Transcription And Analysis $25K/yr
[#12] Ongoing transcription, computational linguistics tools, analyst time, and software licenses.
Research And Monitoring $22K/yr
[#3, #4, #5, #6, #9, #10, #19] AV maintenance contract, capture-chain maintenance, Betamax/player repairs, SAN/NAS maintenance and backup media, periodic conservation, and long-term archive migration annualized costs.
Specialized Research Initiatives $15K/yr
[#20] Intelligence-validation follow-ups, targeted analyst tasking and small investigative budgets triggered by playback content.
Psychiatry And Medical Support $10K/yr
[#13] On-call psychiatric evaluations, debriefings and short-term counselling for exposed personnel.
Incident Investigation And Emergency Response Fund $10K/yr
[#18] Annual reserve for investigating accidental exposures, leaks, or anomalous behavior observed during playbacks.
Miscellaneous Site Overhead $10K/yr
[#22] Allocated portion of site fixed costs (electricity, general supplies, audit, insurance-equivalent).
Training And Sop Refreshers $3K/yr
[#16] Annual refresher training and SOP updates for handling, viewing and mental-health precautions.
Facilities Maintenance $2K/yr
[#1] HVAC monitoring, environmental controls and periodic environmental verification for archival cabinet.
Supplies And Consumables $2K/yr
[#17] Blank tapes, cleaning supplies, batteries, archival sleeves, PPE and small consumables.
Logistics And Transport $0/yr
[]
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $361K/yr
94.5% probability / year
Normal year with scheduled viewings and routine maintenance, no incidents or leaks.
routine_viewings scheduled_maintenance no_external_exposure
🚨 Minor Incident $423K/yr
5.0% probability / year +$62K vs baseline
Small exposure/leak or one-off anomalous event requiring investigation, limited forensic campaign and targeted amnestic/legal actions.
limited_leak_or_external_viewing targeted_forensic_campaign minor_legal_response
🚨 Major Incident $691K/yr
0.5% probability / year +$330K vs baseline
Major containment breach, public leak, or high-profile exposure requiring wide-scale amnestics, extended forensic and legal campaigns and potential equipment replacement.
public_leak large_civilian_exposure extended_forensic_and_PR_response
👥 Personnel 5 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist / Project Lead 1 [#7] Part-time/pro-rated PI responsible for oversight, protocols and analysis (0.2–0.5 FTE equivalent).
Research Assistant / Archivist 1 [#7] Full-time RA handling viewings, archival operations and transcript coordination.
AV Technician / Maintenance 1 [#3, #4, #9] AV specialist for Betamax maintenance, capture-chain operation and equipment upkeep (0.5–1.0 FTE presence).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 [#8] Minimal dedicated on-call guard coverage for viewings and custody escorts; full 24/7 rotation would increase counts and costs.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line items and ranges for most categories, enabling a reasoned mid-range estimate; uncertainty remains around incident frequency, legal/amnestic caseloads, and long-term archival growth which prevents a 'high' confidence rating.
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