SCP-2533 — SCP-2533 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-2533 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-2533

Expected annual

$1.8M

One-time setup

$340K

Annual recurring

$1.8M

Personnel

Initial one-time setup costs are modest (~$341k) dominated by research lab setup and chamber retrofit; recurring annual costs (~$1.77M/year) are driven by research staffing, investigative workload, legal/PR contingency and an annual emergency/contingency reserve.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $340K

Initial Research And Lab Setup $200K

[#16] Research program initial lab setup and equipment for memetic/psych/materials research.

Equipment $70K

[#1, #3, #10, #12, #17, #23] Secure storage upgrades (tamper-evident envelope/cabinet/locks/asset tagging), CCTV and integration, non-lethal/resraint equipment, copier + secure bay and secure shelving/lockbox, database integration/secure logging initial setup, air-gapped workstation.

Facilities $50K

[#2] Dedicated viewing chamber retrofit (construction/refit, furniture, panic/alarm wiring); midpoint of $25k–$75k used.

Amnestic Stockpile Setup $20K

[#8] Initial Class C amnestic stockpile/set-up (production QA, secure chemical storage) estimated separately from recurring amnestic replenishment.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.8M/yr

Staff Wages $505K/yr

[#4, #5, #7, #16] Per-event personnel time (3 staff × events), supervisor authorization/admin overhead, debriefing psychologist labor costs per viewing, and full research-team salaries (2 memeticists, 2 psychologists, 1 materials scientist, 1 lab tech).

Logistics And Transport $500K/yr

[#14] Investigative costs to verify claims (background checks, interviews, travel, forensics); provisioned as ~$5,000/incident × 100 incidents/year as per analyst notes.

Contingency Reserve $375K/yr

[#22] Emergency reserve for severe leak/incident escalation (midpoint of $250k–$500k).

Cover Story And Legal $150K/yr

[#15] Legal/PR budget: retainer + case budget and contingency for settlements/cover actions.

Research And Monitoring $50K/yr

[#16] Experimental costs, subject compensation and consumables for research into mechanism/countermeasures (separate from research team salaries).

Medical Emergency Readiness $50K/yr

[#9] On-call medical/security readiness, trauma supplies and preparedness; per-incident ER/treatment costs are additional and variable ($500–$5,000).

Psychological Compensation Reserve $50K/yr

[#20] Reserve for counselling, sick leave, backfill, compensation and retention measures for psychological injury.

Turnover And Cross Training $30K/yr

[#24] Recruitment buffer, cross-training and redundancy to preserve operational tempo under restrictive access rules.

Ethical Oversight Board $15K/yr

[#25] Legal/ethical oversight board stipends and meeting costs.

Amnestic Replenishment And Admin $10K/yr

[#8] Ongoing per-dose production/admin and replenishment for Class C amnestics.

Training Program $10K/yr

[#11] Annual refresher training, SOP development amortized and per-attendee refreshers.

Audit And Compliance $10K/yr

[#21] Periodic third-party audits and compliance reporting.

Facilities Maintenance $7K/yr

[#17, #18] Secure logging/database maintenance and incremental energy/climate control costs for storage and viewing chamber.

Psychological Screening $5K/yr

[#6] Pre-viewing psychological/HR screening appointments and admin time.

Supplies And Consumables $3K/yr

[#12, #13, #19] Operational handling for secure copies, secure destruction services/consumables, and paper handling/PPE/envelopes.

It Maintenance $3K/yr

[#23] Maintenance and support for air-gapped research workstation and associated secure IT.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.8M/yr

73.0% probability / year

Normal year assuming analyst baseline operational tempo (assumes ~100 viewings/year as used in recurring estimates) with no major leaks or exceptional incidents.

routine_viewings planned_research normal_administrative_activity

🚨 Minor Incident $1.8M/yr

20.0% probability / year +$20K vs baseline

One or a few non-catastrophic incidents (assaults, medical emergencies, limited legal claims) requiring ER treatment, one or two amnestic administrations and extra admin/investigative work.

viewer_assault localized_investigation amnestic_administration

🚨 Major Leak And Legal Escalation $2.5M/yr

7.0% probability / year +$700K vs baseline

Public leak or viewer acts on disinformation leading to large-scale legal actions, major PR/cover operations, and extensive memetic mitigation.

public_leak significant_legal_claims large_scale_memetic_mitigation

👥 Personnel 14 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist	6	[#16] 2 memeticists, 2 psychologists, 1 materials scientist, 1 lab tech (full-time research team covered in research salaries).
Security Officer / MTF Agent	4	[#9, #10] On-call/security staffing to support viewing events, emergency response and restraint use; covered under medical/emergency readiness and equipment budgets.
Administrative Staff	2	[#5, #11] Level-3 supervisor authorization, admin logging/backfill and training/program administration.
Medical Officer / Psychologist	1	[#7, #6] Qualified psychological staff for debriefing and screening (on-staff or primary point of contact; additional debriefing costs budgeted per-event).
IT / Systems Administrator	1	[#17, #23] Manages secure logging, air-gapped workstation and IT access controls.

📋 Confidence Notes

Many recurring figures are explicit in analyst notes (salaries, investigative provision) but some items use midpoints or assumptions (chamber retrofit range, contingency midpoint, assumed 100 viewings/year). This yields medium confidence in totals.

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