SCP-2473 — SCP-2473 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-2473 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-2473

Expected annual

$8.9M

One-time setup

$6.2M

Annual recurring

$8.2M

Personnel

First-year capital (one-time) expenses are dominated by laboratory buildouts, structural reinforcement and reverse-engineering test rigs (~$6.24M). Ongoing annual costs are substantial and driven by specialized staff, security, environmental controls and program-scale reverse-engineering funding (~$8.15M/yr).

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $6.2M

Initial Research And Lab Setup $3.5M

[#5, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16] Conservator/restoration lab buildout and specialized tooling; initial high-resolution materials analysis campaigns; clean-room/biocontainment setup for SCP-2473-2 handling; upgraded cryogenic storage capability; initial dating/forensics campaign; xenolinguistics program startup; reverse-engineering and prototyping lab (CNC/3D printing/vacuum test stands/safety interlocks).

Equipment $1.6M

[#2, #7, #8, #9, #10, #18, #21] Heavy rigging/gantry and transport gear; photovoltaic sun-tracking rig and weatherproofing; UPS/battery banks & charging rigs; inert-gas purge hardware and seals; purchase of large-scale imaging systems (LIDAR/X-ray/CT) and emergency propulsion disablement hardware; secure servers/classified IT hardware.

Facilities $1.0M

[#1, #6] Structural reinforcement of Hangar 37 (cradle, floor reinforcement, vibration damping) and installation/partitioning for climate-control/clean zones (HVAC/HEPA/dehumidification/inert-atmosphere-capable infrastructure).

Outreach And Cover Acquisition $105K

[#28] One-time pre-recovery/outreach and cover-story setup (permits, staged excavation/cover payments) as required at recovery.

Vacuum Chamber Build $0

[#17] Large vacuum chamber/testing facility not acquired on baseline (outsourced testing assumed); build cost reserved as contingency and handled via scenario-based spending.

Emergency Relocation Contingency $0

[#24] Contingency for full relocation event (multi-million-dollar per-event cost). Baseline holds no one-time relocation expense; event costs are modelled in scenarios.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $8.2M/yr

Staff Wages $2.9M/yr

[#3, #4] 24/7 security staffing and specialized scientific/engineering personnel (aerospace/materials/electronics/propulsion engineers, conservators, project managers) fully-loaded salaries and benefits.

Program Scale Budget $2.0M/yr

[#25] Baseline allocation for multi-year reverse-engineering program funding (scalable core program budget).

Research And Monitoring $1.0M/yr

[#11, #14, #15, #16] Ongoing materials analyses and follow-ups, periodic dating/forensics campaigns, xenolinguistics/translation compute & personnel, and routine reverse-engineering experimental campaigns operations.

Insurance And Risk Provision $550K/yr

[#26] Annual contingency reserve for catastrophic loss, remediation, drills and incident funds.

Medical And Dclass $300K/yr

[#19] Medical facility readiness for testing, surgical suites readiness and annual D-Class procurement/medical care pool costs.

Cover Story And Legal $275K/yr

[#20] Legal/diplomatic/cover-story expenses, shell-company maintenance, permit handling and PR suppression budgets.

External Contracts $275K/yr

[#23] Annual use of external national labs, specialist contractors, travel and NDA/security fees for outsourced capabilities.

Facilities Maintenance $125K/yr

[#6] Climate-control energy, HEPA/dehumidification maintenance and general hangar infrastructure upkeep.

Conservation Operations $100K/yr

[#5] Ongoing conservator labor, micro-conservation consumables, polymer stabilization and small-tools for restoration of SCP-2473-1 instances.

Vacuum Test Campaigns $100K/yr

[#17] Outsourced vacuum/propulsion test campaigns (per-test facility fees) in lieu of owning a dedicated vacuum chamber.

It Operations $88K/yr

[#21] Secure servers, encrypted backups, classified IT maintenance and cybersecurity operations.

Archival And Curation $88K/yr

[#29] Long-term archival, cataloguing, data curation and periodic conservation cycles for recovered artifacts and logs.

Supplies And Consumables $62K/yr

[#22] Consumables and spare parts inventory (archival solvents, polymer materials, PPE, spare electronics and fasteners).

Training And Compliance $62K/yr

[#27] Ongoing staff training, certifications, safety audits and regulatory compliance costs.

Biocontainment Operations $60K/yr

[#12] BSL-2/3 handling ops, sterile lab maintenance, morgue/cryostorage consumables and PPE upkeep for SCP-2473-2.

Imaging Campaigns $50K/yr

[#10] Outsourced or campaign imaging costs (neutron imaging, industrial radiography) when purchase not used or for high-energy campaigns.

Cryo Operations $48K/yr

[#13] Cryogenic/freezer operations, temperature monitoring, redundancy checks and specimen maintenance for SCP-2473-2.

Backup Power Maintenance $30K/yr

[#8] UPS and battery bank maintenance, replacement cells budgeting, and electrical top-up energy costs associated with maintaining power cells.

Inert Gas Maintenance $25K/yr

[#9] Consumable gas supply (N2/Ar) and monitoring/calibration for inert-atmosphere purge systems.

Photovoltaic Maintenance $12K/yr

[#7] Maintenance and motor/cover servicing for sun-tracking photovoltaic exposure system.

Logistics And Transport $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $8.2M/yr

74.0% probability / year

Normal year with no major incidents; routine operations, scheduled research campaigns and maintenance only.

routine_operations scheduled_research_campaigns

🚨 Minor Incident $8.4M/yr

10.0% probability / year +$250K vs baseline

Localized failure, small breach or equipment failure requiring repairs, extra analysis campaigns and PR/legal activity.

localized_corrosion_failure minor_security_breach localized_power_loss

🚨 Major Breach $18.1M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$10.0M vs baseline

Containment breach or accidental activation requiring emergency relocation, large-scale repairs and incident remediation.

containment_breach accidental_activation failed_propulsion_test

🚨 Research Scale Up $12.2M/yr

15.0% probability / year +$4.0M vs baseline

Deliberate program expansion and aggressive reverse-engineering funding increases staffing, test campaigns, and prototyping.

board_approval_for_scaleup strategic_funding_influx research_breakthrough_opportunity

👥 Personnel 29 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	10	[#3] 24/7 armed site security rotational staffing (baseline count; additional contractors/MTF mobilized in incidents).
Research Scientist	10	[#4] Aerospace/materials/electronics/propulsion specialists and senior researchers for restoration and reverse-engineering.
Engineer / Maintenance	3	[#2, #6, #8] Facilities and mechanical engineers to manage hangar reinforcement, rigging operations, power and environmental systems.
Conservator / Restoration Technician	4	[#5] Conservators and restoration technicians for micro-conservation of SCP-2473-1 chairs and interior artifacts.
Administrative Staff / Project Manager	2	[#15, #16] Program managers and administrative support coordinating research, contracts and regulatory/compliance activities.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates use midpoints of wide published ranges and several judgment calls (purchase vs. rental, outsource vs. build, program scale). Many line items are scalable or campaign-based; contingency scenario modeling reduces single-year bias, but uncertainty remains significant.

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