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SCP-2993 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-2993
Expected annual
$43K
One-time setup
$100K
Annual recurring
$37K
Personnel
0.2
Initial one-time setup is moderate (~$100k) driven primarily by a contingency reserve and lab/capture equipment; recurring baseline costs are modest (~$37k/year) driven by part-time staff, secure data storage, logistics and occasional maintenance. Active operational use or legal/cover contingencies drastically increase annual costs.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $100K
Contingency Reserve Cover $50K
[#16] One-time contingency reserve for redaction/cover/PR/legal actions; low-end reserve selected ($50,000).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $24K
[#8] Optical/recording experimental setup (stable optical bench, high-resolution cameras, mounts, lighting, darkroom/control space) and initial data-capture software/training (~$23,500 total chosen near midpoint).
Equipment $10K
[#6, #7, #19] One-time purchase of precision optician tools and bench (~$3,000), fragment/inert-storage kit (~$650), and air-gapped capture workstation / secure transfer appliance (~$6,500).
Facilities $5K
[#1] Procurement/upgrade of a dedicated secure locker (RFID/biometric/tamper sensors) if existing inventory is unavailable; marginal/zero if using existing lockers.
Incident Response Reserve $5K
[#17] Initial incident-response / self-insurance reserve for accidental damage or discovery; lower-end reserve selected.
Sop Development $4K
[#11] One-time SOP drafting and training rollout estimated at ~$2,000–6,000; midpoint used.
Decommissioning $2K
[#20] One-time plan and execution budget for supervised destruction/transfer/records purge; midpoint estimate used.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $37K/yr
Staff Wages $12K/yr
[#3, #4] Incremental allocation for lead researcher/admin time (0.05-0.10 FTE ~ $5k-12k) and laboratory technician handling time (0.05-0.10 FTE ~ $2.5k-6k); baseline assumes small incremental FTEs totaling ~$12.5k/year.
Logistics And Transport $8K/yr
[#5, #15] Security escort and per-transport costs (on-site escorts, routine experiment/transfers ~ $3k-$40k depending on frequency); baseline assumes minimal routine escorts plus occasional small deployments (~$6k for escorts + ~$2k/year for occasional off-site deployments).
Cover Story And Legal $4K/yr
[#12, #16] Recurring legal/admin time for chain-of-custody, redaction workflows, and low-level cover maintenance monitoring (~$1k-$5k/year) plus small ongoing cover maintenance (~$1k/yr).
Secure Data Storage $2K/yr
[#9] Classified/air-gapped storage, backups, integrity checking and archival for recorded footage and logs (~$1k-$5k/year; midpoint used).
Forensics And Liaison $2K/yr
[#13] Evidence handling, forensic validation, and liaison with internal boards or external experts (~$1k-$10k/year; conservative baseline).
Facilities Maintenance $2K/yr
[#2] Pro-rated site storage/overhead allocation (HVAC/share/space).
Research And Monitoring $2K/yr
[#8] Ongoing data capture, analysis, and experimental maintenance (recurring storage, minor instrument upkeep) for optical/recording experiments.
Supplies And Consumables $1K/yr
[#6, #7, #18] Consumables and small-parts budget: conservation consumables (~$500/yr), fragment storage/cataloging (~$300/yr), cleaning/seals/batteries/etc (~$100-1,000; midpoint used).
Personnel Psych Screening $1K/yr
[#10] Pre/post-exposure psychological screening and on-demand counseling (~$500-$3k/year; midpoint used).
Sop Training And Audits $1K/yr
[#11] Recurring refresher training and compliance audits (~$500-$2k/year).
Incident Response Replenish $1K/yr
[#17] Recurring replenishment budget for incident-response reserve as incidents occur.
It And Network Maintenance $1K/yr
[#19] Recurring maintenance for air-gapped capture stations and secure transfer appliances (~$500-$2k/yr).
Controlled Use Program $0/yr
[#14] Optional recurring cost for an operational exploitation program; set to $0 in baseline (not active).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $37K/yr
85.0% probability / year
Normal year: object stored and used occasionally for controlled experiments with no major incidents or operational exploitation.
routine_experiments locker_storage no_incident
🚨 Minor Incident $42K/yr
8.0% probability / year +$5K vs baseline
Minor damage or fragment loss requiring repairs/conservation and extra lab time.
lens/frame_damage small repair/optician work
🚨 Off Site Deployment $45K/yr
4.0% probability / year +$8K vs baseline
One mid-sized off-site deployment to use SCP-2993 for scene reconstruction or field operations.
secure_transport temporary_secure_lab
🚨 Legal Exposure $187K/yr
1.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline
Imagery reveals compromising/public-interest material leading to legal review, redaction, and PR/cover operations.
sensitive_imagery leak_or_disclosure
🚨 Operational Program Launch $187K/yr
2.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline
Foundation chooses to use SCP-2993 routinely as an operational retrospective surveillance asset (small program launch).
leadership_decision regular_operational_use
👥 Personnel 0.2 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist (Lead Researcher) 0.1 [#3] Incremental FTE (0.05-0.10) for approvals, supervision, and experiment oversight; baseline assumes part-time allocation rather than a dedicated hire.
Laboratory Technician 0.1 [#4] Part-time handling/chain-of-custody support (~0.05-0.10 FTE) for experiments and maintenance; baseline assumes fractional allocation from existing staff.
📋 Confidence Notes
Notes and the article provide clear categories and ranges but many costs are conditional (use of existing lockers, frequency of transports, optional operational use, and highly variable legal/cover contingencies), so estimates are mid-range approximations rather than precise figures.
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