← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-3406 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-3406
Expected annual
$1.8M
One-time setup
$2.8M
Annual recurring
$1.7M
Personnel
14
Initial one-time setup is estimated at approximately $2.83M, driven by containment cell construction, backup power, sculpture fabrication/spares, and lab/setup costs. Ongoing annual operations are about $1.74M/year, dominated by staff wages, research, security, and utilities/monitoring.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $2.8M
Facilities $900K
[#1] Initial construction/modification of a 3-cell suite (two small, one medium) including reinforced walls, anchoring points, separate airlocks and tamper-proof doors.
Containment Expansion Contingency $500K
[#23] Reserve fund for rapid expansion of containment (extra cells, temporary modular units, and associated one-time setup) if multiple SCP-3406-1 are created.
Equipment $300K
[#3, #5, #6, #11, #12, #19, #29] Initial purchase and installation of monitoring systems, lab-grade current source and safety rig, medical monitoring equipment, air-gapped workstation/server, initial storage appliance, and initial specialized instrumentation.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $300K
[#5, #14, #27] Initial R&D program and lab/test chamber upgrades including certification/testing of current-delivery systems and initial intake/evaluation budget.
Sculpture Sets $200K
[#4] Fabrication of one primary set of seven identical metal sculptures plus three spare sets (28 total) at factory/artist quality; includes storage of non-activating/forensic-marked pieces.
Specialized Transport Van $120K
[#9] Purchase of one enclosed, tamper-resistant transport van with immobilizers and shock isolation for moving medium/large instances.
Cell Environmental Install $120K
[#2] One-time installation costs for HVAC/humidity control, dedicated circuits, and fire suppression tailored to three cells (installation add-ons per cell).
Backup Power $100K
[#3] UPS + installation and site-level backup generator purchase/installation to ensure uninterrupted power for containment and testing.
Incident Response Equipment $75K
[#26] One-time purchase of vehicles, specialized immobilization gear, and equipment for rapid-response team readiness.
Forensic Initial Campaign $50K
[#18] Initial metallurgical/forensic analysis campaign and contract testing to understand sculpture materials and activation signatures.
Incident Coverup Reserve $50K
[#20, #28] One-time incident coverup / PR contingency funds for plausible immediate responses to civilian exposure.
Linguistics Initial Project $50K
[#13] Initial linguistics/translation project funding (field research, paleography, travel, contractor engagement) to begin translating ritual text.
Specialized Containment Crates $40K
[#9] Purchase of custom containment crates/containers for smaller animate objects and equipment.
Training Course Development $25K
[#15] One-time development of staff training courses and SOP documentation for ritual handling, current-delivery safety, and containment procedures.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.7M/yr
Staff Wages $990K/yr
[#7, #8] Annual salaries for core research team (research scientists, engineer, linguist, containment specialist, mental health counselor), security rotation, and administrative support.
Research And Monitoring $200K/yr
[#12, #14, #18, #11] Ongoing R&D program, forensic analyses, secure sandbox/software licensing, continuous monitoring analytics and sensor data processing upkeep.
Incident Response Standby $100K/yr
[#26] Standby rapid-response team staffing, vehicle readiness, and overtime pool for activations.
Facilities Maintenance $90K/yr
[#2, #3, #11] Annual utilities and environmental control costs for cells (HVAC, filtered air, humidity control), generator/UPS maintenance and fuel, and basic site utilities/repairs.
Cover Story And Legal $50K/yr
[#20, #28] Annual legal/admin overhead, redaction work, incident cover-story budgeting, and liaison counsel for civilian encounters.
Insurance Reserve $50K/yr
[#21] Reserved contingency/insurance-like fund to cover contractor requirements, liability and regulatory compliance costs.
Per Test Operations $50K/yr
[#25] Per-test operational costs aggregated over expected tests per year (staff overtime, power, cleanup, data processing, and post-test handling).
Logistics And Transport $40K/yr
[#9] Transport maintenance, occasional heavy-lift/crane rentals, and crate refurbishment for routine movement and testing of instances.
Supplies And Consumables $30K/yr
[#6, #17] Recurring consumables: medical disposables, insulating PPE, workshop supplies, replacement fasteners, batteries, and generator fuel.
Translation And Field Research $30K/yr
[#13] Ongoing linguist contractors, computational linguistics, and limited field/travel budgets for continued translation and analysis.
Sculpture Replacement $20K/yr
[#24] Ongoing replacement/spare budget for sculptures damaged by rituals or rendered unsafe/contaminated.
Public Relations $20K/yr
[#28] Ongoing budget for misinformation/cover-story placement and compensation related to containment incidents.
Training And Sop $15K/yr
[#15] Annual refresher training, drills, and SOP updates for staff handling rituals and current-delivery systems.
Arch Ethics Board $15K/yr
[#30] Administrative overhead for archival review, ethical oversight, and policy updates.
Long Term Care $12K/yr
[#27] Food, maintenance, enrichment, and periodic veterinary-like care for contained sapient non-human instances.
Data Storage Maintenance $10K/yr
[#19, #11] Annual storage, archival maintenance, and backup workflows for high-resolution video/sensor logs.
Vehicle Retrofit Maintenance $10K/yr
[#10] Ongoing costs to maintain and retrofit vehicles with immobilizers, kill-switches, and related instrumentation.
Waste Handling $8K/yr
[#22] Annual hazardous-waste handling and decontamination contract costs if fluids/biological material are produced.
Specialized Instrumentation Maintenance $5K/yr
[#29] Licensing, updates, and maintenance for image/sound sanitizers and decoy generation tools.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.7M/yr
90.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with no major incidents; routine testing and maintenance only.
routine_testing no_containment_incidents
🚨 Minor Incident $1.8M/yr
8.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Small accidental activation or escape that is quickly contained, requiring per-incident activation costs, repairs, and modest legal/PR work.
failed_test localized_escape minor_equipment_damage
🚨 Major Breach $2.1M/yr
1.5% probability / year +$400K vs baseline
Significant breach involving vehicle-capable instance or multiple animate items requiring large-scale response, temporary expansion, and substantial legal/PR remediation.
vehicle-capable_instance_escape multiple_instances_uncontained
🚨 Mass Animation $3.7M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$2.0M vs baseline
MA-Class mass animation scenario where leaks or hostile use cause many objects to animate, requiring emergency nationwide/regional operations, mass containment and long-term scaling.
widespread_leak deliberate_malicious_use chain_reactions_in_media
👥 Personnel 14 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 3 [#7] Senior/junior anomalous object researchers responsible for experiments and analysis.
Engineer / Maintenance 1 [#7] Electrical engineer/technician for current-delivery rig, instrumentation, and vehicle retrofits.
Linguist / Philologist 1 [#7, #13] Specialist for translation and cryptanalysis work (may be supplemented by contractors).
Containment Specialist 1 [#7] Oversees cell design, anchoring, and containment procedures for non-humanoid sapient instances.
Mental Health Counselor / Medical Officer 1 [#6, #16] Medical/psychological support for staff and evaluation of subjects.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 6 [#8] Rotation of dedicated guards for containment, transport escorts, and test security.
Administrative Staff 1 [#20, #30] Admin support for redaction, legal liaison, archival, and ethics board coordination.
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates are informed by explicit line-item ranges in the analyst notes but many costs depend on unknowns (frequency of tests, number/size of SCP-3406-1 instances, and translation progress). Reasonable mid-range assumptions were used, creating moderate confidence.
← SCP-3405 ↑ All SCPs SCP-3407 →