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SCP-3578 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-3578
Expected annual
$1.5M
One-time setup
$511K
Annual recurring
$1.5M
Personnel
12
Initial one-time fit-out and equipment purchases are modest (≈$511k) while annual operations driven by staffing, legal/compliance, and research consume the bulk of recurring costs (≈$1.46M/yr). Major cost drivers are continuous security and dedicated research/caregiver staffing, legal/cover retainer, and long-term research budgets.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $511K
Facilities $366K
[#1, #2, #3, #27] Structural containment fit-out (7×7 + 10×10 + antechamber), HVAC installation/upgrade, secure doors/airlock and child-safe refit costs; includes epoxy flooring, sealed drains, observation glazing, antechamber airlock and initial HVAC line installation.
Equipment $134K
[#4, #5, #6, #7, #12, #22, #23] Purchase of CCTV & sensors, UPS/generator hardware, decontamination/sterilization equipment, -80°C freezer/biobank, initial security equipment (armor/radios/restraint gear), transport carriers and initial IT/records hardware.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $10K
[#20] Vivarium / necropsy setup and initial pathology/necropsy table, cold-chain and pathology PPE setup.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.5M/yr
Staff Wages $735K/yr
[#11, #13, #17] Security staffing (8 FTEs at loaded ~$45k each ≈ $360k), dedicated research staff (2 scientists + 1 tech ≈ $275k), and one surrogate caregiver (SCP-3578-B) compensation/hazard pay (~$100k).
Research And Monitoring $196K/yr
[#14, #19, #25] Per-event emergence team & operational costs (~$16k/yr), clinical imaging/lab diagnostics and sequencing (~$30k/yr), plus long-term research program & reagents budget (~$150k/yr).
Facility Overhead $191K/yr
[#26] Proportional site overhead, administrative allocation and utilities (15% of direct recurring costs; calculated from direct recurring subtotal).
Cover Story And Legal $175K/yr
[#24] Legal retainer, compliance, cover-story maintenance, insurance and PR/legal contingency costs (midpoint estimate ~$175k/yr).
Supplies And Consumables $54K/yr
[#9, #15, #16, #10, #20] PPE & disposables (~$7k), clinical/medical supplies & pharmaceuticals (~$16.5k), feeding/surrogate supplies (~$3.5k), biohazard waste treatment & disposal (~$21k), vivarium consumables (~$6.5k).
Contingency And Overtime Pool $50K/yr
[#21] Emergency contingency fund for overtime, unplanned repairs, medical emergencies and ad hoc transport (~$50k/yr).
Facilities Maintenance $20K/yr
[#2, #5, #6, #7] HVAC energy & maintenance and negative-pressure/biofilter upkeep (~$12.5k), generator/UPS fuel & testing (~$2k), decon/autoclave maintenance (~$3k), freezer maintenance/energy (~$2k).
Psychological Monitoring $15K/yr
[#18] Ongoing mental-health services, trauma counseling and evaluations for staff and surrogate caregivers (~$15k/yr).
Security Training And Equipment Refresh $10K/yr
[#12] Annual refresh for security equipment, weapons maintenance, body armor replacement cycles and training drills (~$10k/yr).
Cleaning Contract $9K/yr
[#8] Bi-weekly specialized biohazard cleaning contract (2 techs × 4 hrs × 26 cleanings) plus consumables (~$9k/yr).
It And Data Hosting $8K/yr
[#4, #23] Cloud recording/backup for CCTV and secure lab/medical records hosting and maintenance (~$2.5k + ~$5k = ~$7.5k/yr).
Logistics And Transport $1K/yr
[#22] Maintenance and small recurring upkeep for secure internal transport carriers and containment transfer equipment (~$1k/yr).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.5M/yr
68.0% probability / year
Normal year with routine emergences (≈1/yr), standard operations and no major incidents.
routine emergence scheduled maintenance normal research activity
🚨 Minor Incident $1.5M/yr
25.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Medical complication or difficult emergence requiring extended emergent team hours, additional imaging/sequencing and overtime.
complicated emergence extended ICU-level care additional sequencing/imaging
🚨 Major Breach $2.5M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline
Security lapse, containment breach, or public/legal exposure requiring large-scale response, repairs, investigations, litigation and PR.
physical breach media/legal exposure major containment failure
🚨 Research Breakthrough Requiring Scale Up $1.8M/yr
5.0% probability / year +$300K vs baseline
Significant research opportunity (or regulatory upgrade to BSL-3 equivalent) requiring increased staff, reagents, sequencing and potential capital investments in containment.
major research finding regulatory upgrade requirement scale-up of longitudinal studies
👥 Personnel 12 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 8 [#11] Two posted guards per shift (3 shifts) plus spares/administration; staffing cost included in staff_wages ($360k/yr).
Research Scientist 2 [#13] Two full-time researchers (xenobiology/comparative reproductive biology) included in research staff wages (~$275k total with tech).
Laboratory Technician 1 [#13] One full-time lab technician to monitor cycles, culture samples and coordinate emergences; included in research staff wages.
Surrogate Caregiver (SCP-3578-B) 1 [#17] One designated caregiver assumed active part of the time; compensation/hazard pay/counseling included in recurring caregiver cost (~$100k/yr).
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed itemized ranges for nearly all line items; staffing and legal estimates are fairly well-bounded. Remaining uncertainties include frequency/severity of emergences, potential requirements to upgrade to BSL-3-equivalent containment, and surrogate staffing model (which can materially increase or reduce recurring costs). These produce a medium confidence rating.
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