SCP-216 — SCP-216 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-216 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-216

Expected annual

$1.7M

One-time setup

$7.4M

Annual recurring

$1.5M

Personnel

One-time capital expenses of approximately $7.37M driven primarily by optional exhaustive mapping and a potential BSL-3 construction; recurring annual costs are about $1.53M/yr driven mainly by staff wages, testing/forensics, and institutional overhead.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $7.4M

Full Exhaustive Mapping Capex $5.0M

[#11] Optional one-time capital for an attempted exhaustive/brute-force mapping campaign (very large-RoI automation, robotics, and data processing).

Bsl3 Construction $1.2M

[#9] Optional one-time cost to build a BSL-3 facility if Foundation chooses in-house high-containment testing capability.

Equipment $421K

[#5, #6, #7, #22, #23] One-time development of secure inventory/database and hosting tooling (#5), industrial telemanipulator and tooling (#6), non-invasive sensing/diagnostic equipment (ultrasound/X-ray/etc.) (#7), policy tooling/lockers (#22), archive ingest/setup (#23).

Emergency Response Reserve $175K

[#14] Pre-funded emergency response reserve for rapid-response activation, decontamination, and incident remediation.

Mapping Campaign $150K

[#11] Moderate one-time automated / targeted mapping campaign (sampled or accelerated mapping) — covers robotics/time to map a non-exhaustive but substantial sample of combinations.

Field Search Small $150K

[#24] One-time small/targeted field investigation budget to search for sibling devices implied by engraving '3/4'.

Secure Storage Outfitting $100K

[#10] One-time outfitting of long-term secure storage/vaults and climate-control-capable lockers for retrieved items.

Legal Cover Initial $75K

[#16] Initial legal retainer and cover-story/front company setup to support containment secrecy.

Facilities $25K

[#1] Dedicated Laboratory 5 fit-out: reinforced anchoring, anteroom, badge readers and physical access logs; one-time fit-out estimate.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $25K

[#15] SOP development and initial staff training / documentation creation for SCP-216 operations and non-recording-device procedures.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.5M/yr

Staff Wages $860K/yr

[#2, #3, #4] Salaries and benefits for on-site security guards (3), dedicated research scientists (3 FTE), containment technicians (3 FTE), plus a small on-site engineer and administrative support.

Research And Monitoring $180K/yr

[#5, #9, #15] Recurring costs for inventory/database hosting & maintenance (#5), standing testing budget for bio/chem/materials assays and sample processing (#9), and annual refresher training/SOP updates (#15).

Long Term Overhead $120K/yr

[#25] Institutional overhead allocation (HR, accounting, facility management, compliance) apportioned to this program.

Hazardous Disposal $60K/yr

[#13] Annual contingency reserve for hazardous-waste disposal/neutralization incidents and contractor hazmat responses.

Cover Story And Legal $50K/yr

[#16] Annual legal retainer, cover maintenance, liaison, and occasional buyouts related to secrecy and operational security.

Emergency Replenish $50K/yr

[#14] Annual replenishment fund for the emergency response reserve after activations or minor incidents.

Forensics And Provenance $50K/yr

[#17] Recurring budget for forensic provenance analysis (DNA, isotope, manufacturing forensics) on recovered items.

Facilities Maintenance $38K/yr

[#1] Recurring facility overhead for Laboratory 5: rent/maintenance/cleaning/housekeeping tied to the dedicated lab space.

Logistics And Transport $30K/yr

[#12] Annual budget for internal secure transfer/armored courier/shipment escorts for retrieved objects.

Supplies And Consumables $15K/yr

[#8] Annual consumables for handling & cataloguing (PPE, sterile bags, seals, labels, gloves, disinfectants, replacement tooling).

Psych Services $15K/yr

[#21] Psychological services, counseling, and ongoing personnel screening for staff exposed to disturbing contents.

Robotic Maintenance $12K/yr

[#6] Recurring maintenance, spare parts and service for the telemanipulation/robotic extraction system.

Energy Utilities $12K/yr

[#18] Energy and utility costs for Lab 5 equipment, robotics, imaging, and climate control.

Sensing Maintenance $10K/yr

[#7] Calibration and service contracts for non-invasive sensing and diagnostic equipment.

It Enforcement $9K/yr

[#22] Annual inspections and enforcement to prevent unauthorized recording devices and to control endpoint security.

Secure Storage Climate Control $7K/yr

[#10] Recurring climate-control and energy costs specific to secure storage/vaults for retrieved items.

Equipment Maintenance $6K/yr

[#19] Replacement/maintenance budget for contact surfaces, lockwork, and mechanical servicing of SCP-216's exterior lock/dial assembly.

Archive Storage $4K/yr

[#23] Recurring archival and long-term data storage costs for experiment logs, chain-of-custody and mapping data.

Chain Of Custody Materials $4K/yr

[#20] Annual tamper-evident seals, serialized tags, secure packaging and audit paperwork for chain-of-custody.

Field Search Recurring $0/yr

[#24] Recurring budget for ongoing field investigation; set to 0 here (assumes only one-time targeted searches unless management decides otherwise).

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.5M/yr

92.0% probability / year

Normal operational year with no major incidents; routine testing, scheduled maintenance, and steady staffing.

routine containment scheduled testing no incidents

🚨 Minor Incident $1.6M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$115K vs baseline

Small containment or retrieval incident requiring activation of emergency response, limited hazardous disposal, overtime and repairs.

injury during retrieval contaminated sample requiring disposal limited mechanical failure

🚨 Major Breach $3.0M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$1.5M vs baseline

Significant containment breach or incident leading to extended remediation, large-scale hazmat response, legal/cover operations and site impacts.

violent animal or dangerous biological release large-scale contamination multi-team remediation

🚨 Research Scale Up $7.0M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$5.5M vs baseline

Decision-year to pursue an exhaustive mapping campaign or major expansion (purchase of full-exhaustive mapping CAPEX and scale-up staffing).

management authorizes exhaustive mapping large capital investment approved

👥 Personnel 11 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist	3	[#3] Dedicated scientific staff (2–4 FTEs suggested); estimate uses 3 FTEs to support experiments, retrievals, and analysis.
Security Officer / MTF Agent	3	[#2] On-site guards for 24/7 coverage and access control; estimate assumes 3 guards for continuous rotation.
Containment Technician	3	[#4] Trained technicians for handling, logging, chain-of-custody and inventories; estimate uses 3 techs.
Engineer / Maintenance	1	[#6, #19] On-call engineer/maintenance to support robotics, sensors, and lockwork maintenance.
Administrative Staff	1	[#25] Small administrative support for HR, procurement, and program accounting.

📋 Confidence Notes

Analyst notes provide detailed line items and ranges for nearly every cost driver, allowing a moderate-confidence estimate. Large optional items (exhaustive mapping, BSL-3 construction, wide field ops) have wide ranges and drive most uncertainty, reducing confidence from 'high' to 'medium'.

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