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SCP-3538 Safe ✓ high confidence
SCP-3538
Expected annual
$24K
One-time setup
$50K
Annual recurring
$23K
Personnel
10
One-time startup costs are modest (~$49,750) driven by a contingency reserve and initial research/setup; recurring annual costs are low-to-moderate (~$22,875/yr) dominated by incident-response allocation, legal/cover retainer, and research/operator labor.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $50K
Contingency Reserve $30K
[#18] One-time reserve fund for unexpected anomalous behavior, equipment damage or emergency investigations.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $12K
[#6, #14, #16, #12, #3, #4] Hinge-monitoring instrumentation (#6), initial documentation/cataloguing (#14), initial provenance investigation (#16), initial ethics/review protocol setup (#12), initial background checks for staff (#3), and initial Morse training course for operators (#4).
Facilities $7K
[#1, #17] Locker purchase/installation and potential decommissioning/disposal contingency for physical handling.
It Integration Setup $1K
[#2] One-time IT/configuration to integrate locker access logs with site security and backup logging.
Ppe And Signage Initial $200
[#9] Initial PPE and safety signage/SOP posting for containment and handling.
Equipment $0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $23K/yr
Staff Wages $8K/yr
[#4, #5] Research/test labor (~100 research hours @ $60/hr) and Morse-operator/test support (~10 tests @ 4 hours/operator at $40/hr).
Incident Response Allocation $8K/yr
[#10] Allocated share of medical/rescue/medevac readiness and emergency drills / risk reserve for accidents (site-shared allocation).
Cover Story And Legal $3K/yr
[#13] Legal counsel / PR retainer and cover-story budget (annualized).
Research And Monitoring $2K/yr
[#7, #6, #14, #16] Audio/video storage and archival (#7), instrumentation/software maintenance (#6), periodic documentation updates (#14), and small ongoing provenance follow-up expenses (#16).
Logistics And Transport $800/yr
[#11] Secure transport, chain-of-custody and two-person handling for moves (estimated 2 moves/yr).
Background Check Maintenance $750/yr
[#3] Ongoing background-check maintenance/reinvestigation for ~10 personnel (~$75/yr/person).
Facilities Maintenance $500/yr
[#15] Locker hardware maintenance, battery replacement and locksmith service contract (annualized).
Ethics And Oversight Maintenance $500/yr
[#12] Annual cost to maintain ethics/review oversight and recordkeeping for sentient/communicative interactions.
Supplies And Consumables $375/yr
[#8, #9] Batteries, cleaning, lubricants, small hand tools and PPE replacement.
It Updates And Software Maintenance $200/yr
[#2] Periodic software/firmware updates for locker integration and logging systems.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $23K/yr
91.0% probability / year
Normal year with routine testing and no major incidents.
routine_testing regular_maintenance no_incidents
🚨 Minor Incident $35K/yr
5.0% probability / year +$12K vs baseline
A small unauthorized use or test accident causing a medical injury and short investigation.
unauthorized_climbing_attempt minor injury short investigation
🚨 Major Incident $73K/yr
1.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Serious injury, public exposure or litigation requiring extensive legal/PR response, replacement and long investigation.
public_exposure significant_injury litigation_and_PR
🚨 Research Breakthrough Requiring Scale Up $38K/yr
3.0% probability / year +$15K vs baseline
Expanded research program after interesting findings requiring additional equipment and staffing.
promising_research_results increased_test_frequency scale-up_of_monitoring
👥 Personnel 10 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 2 Designing and running tests, transcription and analysis; wages included in staff_wages [#5].
Morse-capable Technician 1 Operator required to be present during tests; recurring operator time budget included in staff_wages [#4].
Administrative Staff 1 Documentation, scheduling, background-check administration and recordkeeping [#3, #14].
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 Secure transport, chain-of-custody and custody during moves and testing [#11].
Other Level-2 Personnel 4 Additional Level-2 staff permitted access (background checks covered in one-time and recurring costs) [#3].
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide itemized estimates and ranges for each cost category; SCP is Safe-class with low complexity so primary uncertainties are scale choices (number of staff, frequency of tests) rather than unknown anomalous behaviors.
← SCP-3537 ↑ All SCPs SCP-3539 →