SCP-3258 — SCP-3258 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-3258 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-3258

Expected annual

$1.7M

One-time setup

$11.1M

Annual recurring

$1.5M

Personnel

One-time capital retrofit and contingency upgrade fund drive upfront costs (~$11.1M), while recurring staffing, overhead and insurance are the main annual costs (~$1.51M/yr).

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $11.1M

Contingency Upgrade Capex $8.5M

[#17] Emergency upgrade capex estimate for BSL-3/BSL-4 conversion of suite/suite-of-rooms if infectivity discovered.

Contingency Reserve Fund $1.2M

[#17] Reserve fund to enable immediate emergency measures (mass decon, quarantine) as recommended.

Equipment $455K

[#2, #3, #4, #5, #10, #13, #14, #22] HVAC/hardware (one-time portion), environmental sensors, CCTV and analytics hardware, specialized furnishings/anchors, remote handling equipment, secure data hardware, transport kit, initial cryostorage hardware.

Facilities $325K

[#1] Containment room retrofit (sealing, non-porous finishes, viewing port, hermetic door/mat–trap).

Animal Testing Setup $275K

[#20] One-time costs to set up/approve animal testing / facility access (IACUC-style approvals, animal facility preparation).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $150K

[#9] Initial scientific characterization campaign (sequencing, EM runs, assays, reagents) one-time.

Decommissioning Disposal $105K

[#24] Decommissioning / disposal costs for sterile destruction and hazardous-waste compliant disposal.

Training Development Initial $30K

[#15] Initial SOP development and first-year training/drills.

Initial Ppe Stock $4K

[#11] Initial PPE stock (gloves, gowns, boot covers, disinfectants).

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.5M/yr

Staff Wages $650K/yr

[#6, #7] Security staff (6 FTE) and technical/science staff (PI + 2 techs) salaries + benefits (base salaries only).

Personnel Overhead $211K/yr

[#8] Personnel overhead (benefits, employer taxes, site overhead) estimated at ~32.5% of salaries.

Research And Monitoring $156K/yr

[#9, #21, #13] Ongoing research runs/assays, behavioral monitoring/photogrammetry, and secure data storage/software licensing.

Incident Response Retainer $150K/yr

[#18] On-call specialist/retainer fees for rapid response virologists, hazmat, containment engineers.

Cover Story And Legal $110K/yr

[#19] Legal, redaction and cover story management under normal operations.

Insurance And Underwriting $110K/yr

[#16] Specialized biosecurity underwriting and liability insurance premiums.

Facilities Maintenance $32K/yr

[#2, #3, #4, #5] HVAC/filter replacement and maintenance, sensor/camera maintenance, minor enclosure repairs and upkeep.

Logistics And Transport $22K/yr

[#14] Per-transfer costs and logistics for occasional secure transfers (annual budgeted transfers).

Waste Handling $16K/yr

[#12] Annual waste handling, sterilization, autoclave/incineration contract costs.

Supplies And Consumables $15K/yr

[#11] Ongoing PPE and consumables replacement (gloves, gowns, disinfectants).

Energy And Utilities $15K/yr

[#23] Incremental energy/utility surcharge for continuous HVAC, filtration, monitoring, and equipment.

Training Refreshers $12K/yr

[#15] Annual refresher training and onboarding for new staff.

Specimen Banking Recurring $8K/yr

[#22] Ongoing cryostorage monitoring, duplicate off-site storage and shipping.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.5M/yr

80.0% probability / year

Normal year with routine operations, monitoring, and no major incidents or upgrades.

no incidents routine monitoring scheduled maintenance

🚨 Minor Incident $1.6M/yr

12.0% probability / year +$100K vs baseline

Localized containment incident requiring response, limited cleanup, and legal/PR work.

small escape or contamination alarm-triggered response limited localized decontamination

🚨 Major Breach $2.7M/yr

6.0% probability / year +$1.2M vs baseline

Significant breach or contamination requiring mass decontamination, extended remediation, and legal action.

specimen release evidence of infectivity/contamination multi-day remediation

🚨 Research Breakthrough Requiring Scale Up $5.1M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$3.5M vs baseline

Decision to pursue animal infectivity testing / required upgrade to higher biosafety containment and scale research.

evidence of host-range risk regulatory decision to run animal testing need for BSL-3/4 containment

👥 Personnel 9 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	6	[#6] 24/7 coverage, 3 shifts (2 guards per shift) = 6 FTE.
Research Scientist	1	[#7] One PI / lead (part-time allocation included in salaries).
Laboratory Technician	2	[#7] Two full-time lab technicians for daily observation and experimental runs.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates are mid-range point estimates derived from analyst ranges; containment retrofit and contingency upgrade have large upper-tail uncertainty driven by unknown infectivity and site-specific infrastructure.

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