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SCP-202 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-202
Expected annual
$2.0M
One-time setup
$3.3M
Annual recurring
$1.9M
Personnel
14
One-time capital (including optional heavy imaging purchase) is roughly $3.26M; baseline annual operating costs are ~ $1.93M/yr, driven primarily by specialized research personnel and recurring analytical/imaging expenses.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $3.3M
Mri Purchase $2.0M
[#3] Option to purchase on-site MRI/PET/CT system (midpoint estimate ~$2M); shown as a discrete one-time capital option.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $727K
[#4, #20, #25, #10] Bench-top mass-spectrometry purchase and associated sample-prep robotics ($500k + $100k), prototype/experimental rig seed funding ($100k), software licenses for modeling where one-time ($15k), and sterile kitchen/lab setup ($12k).
Facilities $200K
[#1] Single-occupancy bio-safe containment room buildout (observation window, anti-tamper door, medical plumbing, kitchenette, pass-through) estimated mid-range.
Reserve Fund One Time $150K
[#26] One-time reserve fund allocation recommended for indemnity/contingencies.
Equipment $130K
[#2, #11, #13, #14, #24] Initial AV/microphone/live-processing servers and secure integration ($30k), monitoring hardware ($25k), -80°C freezer and alarm system ($10k+2k), UPS/generator hardware ($30k), initial secure IT architecture elements ($35k) aggregated here.
Initial Personnel Training $30K
[#7, #15] Initial deception/cover-story training, biosafety SOP development and staff onboarding costs combined (~$10k + $20k).
Legal Setup One Time $12K
[#16] One-time legal/cover documentation and counsel for establishing plausible hospital records and liaison setup.
Medical Stocking One Time $12K
[#18] Initial contingency medical supplies and nonstandard stock ($5k–20k range; midpoint used).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.9M/yr
Staff Wages $1.1M/yr
[#6, #7, #8, #10, #23] Salaries and benefits for core research team (PI, postdocs, techs, bioinformatician, coordinator ~ $650k incl. overhead), 3 clinical/acting staff (~$210k), 2 security guards with benefits (~$130k), 1 kitchen tech (~$50k) and part-time counselor (~$45k).
Research And Monitoring $270K/yr
[#3, #4, #5, #20] Recurring research costs: outsourced imaging/scans (~$100k/yr), mass-spec consumables (~$80k/yr), sequencing runs/outsourcing (~$60k/yr) and HPC/cloud compute/license maintenance (~$30k/yr).
Contingency Fund $251K/yr
[#27] Recommended recurring contingency (15% of baseline operational budget) for unanticipated events, equipment replacement and personnel churn.
Supplies And Consumables $73K/yr
[#9, #21, #11, #10, #18] PPE and biohazard disposal, general lab consumables (pipette tips, reagents), monitoring disposables and sterile food-prep consumables combined.
Specialized Projects Recurring $50K/yr
[#25] Ongoing/annual prototyping and experiment capital for custom rigs; project-by-project recurring budget.
Cover Story And Legal $45K/yr
[#16, #22] Annual costs for maintaining legal cover, forged/paperwork upkeep, local liaison and routine PR/monitoring/payouts to maintain secrecy.
Logistics And Transport $40K/yr
[#17] Secure/discreet transfers and staged ambulance logistics for external scans and movement (10–30 transfers/yr budgeted).
Facilities Maintenance $31K/yr
[#1, #12, #13, #14] Incremental facility utilities and maintenance including HVAC/ventilation uplift, freezer electricity/maintenance, and generator service (~$8k–25k HVAC + freezer/generator service).
Ethical Oversight $25K/yr
[#19] Internal IRB-style reviews, external auditors and contracted ethical oversight.
Insurance Annual $25K/yr
[#26] Annual legal retainer / insurance-like reserve draw to cover accidental disclosure/property damage risk.
Archival It Maintenance $23K/yr
[#2, #24] Secure archival storage, hot/hot-backup costs for AV and encrypted audits (~$3k AV storage + ~$20k IT security/maintenance).
Training Refreshers $7K/yr
[#15] Annual refresher training, audits and compliance refreshers.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.9M/yr
88.0% probability / year
Normal year with no major incidents; routine research, maintenance, and outsourced imaging as budgeted.
no_major_incidents outsourced_imaging_only routine_research
🚨 Minor Incident $2.1M/yr
7.0% probability / year +$200K vs baseline
Small containment or operational incident requiring emergency response, repairs, PR payouts, overtime and temporary increased legal/security costs.
minor_breach localized_equipment_failure small_public_exposure
🚨 Research Scale Up $4.1M/yr
5.0% probability / year +$2.2M vs baseline
Decision to purchase on-site MRI/PET or major capital scale-up and multiple prototype projects in a single year (large one-time capital outlay plus higher maintenance).
capital_purchase major_prototype_projects scale_up_of_imaging
👥 Personnel 14 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist / Principal Investigator 1 [#6] Senior lead responsible for program direction (salary basis included).
Postdoctoral Researcher 2 [#6] Two postdocs supporting experiments and data analysis.
Research Technician 2 [#6] Lab technicians for sample prep and day-to-day experiments.
Bioinformatician 1 [#6, #5] In-house bioinformatics support for sequencing and data analysis.
Clinical Research Coordinator 1 [#6] Manages study logistics, consent/records (cover story maintenance).
Clinical Actor / Nurse (cover staff) 3 [#7] Rotating clinical/acting staff maintaining the hospital illusion (FTEs included in wages).
Security Officer / Plainclothes Guard 2 [#8] Discreet security staff to prevent breaches while preserving cover.
Kitchen Technician / Nutritionist 1 [#10] Handles sterile food prep and sample handling.
Counselor / Therapist (part-time) 1 [#23] Part-time mental health staff to maintain subject compliance and well-being.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line-item ranges for most categories, so estimates are moderate-confidence; uncertainty remains due to optional large capital purchases (MRI/PET), scan frequency variability and local legal/cover costs.
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