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SCP-3634 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-3634
Expected annual
$117K
One-time setup
$1.3M
Annual recurring
$109K
Personnel
0.225
One-time startup costs are dominated by contingency for potential incidents and cover-up/medical exposure; steady-state recurring costs are modest and driven by legal coverage, a part-time custodian, and periodic testing (~$109k/yr). Large incident responses (medical, amnestics, MTF, cover-up) can add hundreds of thousands to millions in a single year.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.3M
Incident Site Medical Costs $700K
[#13] Incident-specific emergency/hospitalization costs (large-incident estimate for dozens injured; historical range $280k–$1.1M).
Coverup Costs $300K
[#14] One-time PR/legal/settlement/records-alteration costs in the event of public exposure (variable; mid-range estimate).
Research Grant Estimate $100K
[#22] Optional small behavioral-study program (IRB-equivalent, subject recruitment).
Contingency Reserve One Time $100K
[#21] Initial contingency reserve recommended ($50k–$200k); carry an initial one-time reserve.
Amnestic Initial Incident Stock $45K
[#11] One-time provisioning for amnestic pharmaceuticals and initial administration capacity for a moderate incident.
Mtf Deployment Per Deployment $18K
[#12] Per-deployment Mobile Task Force travel, overtime, transport and field containment equipment (per deployment cost).
Equipment $17K
[#2, #3, #4, #7, #20] BSL-2 cabinet/fridge (~$8k), inventory/tablet & setup (~$4k), CCTV/hardware (~$3.5k), initial PPE kit (~$800), tamper-evident vials/boxes (~$650).
Policy And Training $12K
[#16] SOP development, training modules, initial briefings and policy documentation.
Facilities $5K
[#1] Purchase + installation of a certified secure containment locker with tamper-evident seals and bolting.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $3K
[#9] Initial analytical battery (GC-MS/NMR/HPLC) and initial confirmatory testing setup.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $109K/yr
Cover Story And Legal $40K/yr
[#15] Ongoing legal counsel & compliance budget to manage authorities, permits, FOIA and potential suits (mid-range estimate).
Insurance And Contingency Allocation $20K/yr
[#21] Annual allocation to a contingency/insurance fund ($10k–$50k/yr recommended; mid-range used).
Opportunity Overhead $18K/yr
[#25] Administrative overhead allocation (~20% of direct recurring costs) to cover HR, payroll, facility overhead (calculated on direct recurring subtotal).
Staff Wages $15K/yr
[#5, #6] 0.15 FTE containment custodian/technician (~$10,500) + monthly inspection labor by technicians (~$3k–$6k; mid ~$4,500).
Research And Monitoring $8K/yr
[#3, #9, #10, #16, #23, #24] IT/license/support for inventory/logging (~$500/yr), occasional follow-up analytical tests (~$500/yr), medical-monitoring capability budget (~$12.5k recommended but partly treated as reserve — here conservative allocation for tests and reviews; includes records retention and annual re-evaluation components aggregated).
Biohazard Waste Management $2K/yr
[#8] Contracted medical waste disposal or autoclave operation for low-volume disposal (~$1k–$3k/yr).
Amnestic Restock $2K/yr
[#11] Ongoing small replacement stock for amnestic pharmaceuticals and associated medical readiness (~$2k/yr recommended).
Supplies And Consumables $1K/yr
[#7, #17, #19] PPE replacements/consumables (~$200/yr), authorized-creation consumables/training (~$1,000/yr), decontamination/laundry consumables (~$200/yr).
Facilities Maintenance $1K/yr
[#2, #4] BSL-2 cabinet/fridge maintenance/calibration (~$500/yr) and CCTV storage/monitoring (~$600/yr).
Logistics And Transport $1K/yr
[#18] Secure courier/transport between facilities (assumed low-frequency budget ~$300–$1,000/transfer averaged into annual budget).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $109K/yr
94.5% probability / year
Normal year with routine inspections, maintenance, and no incidents or deployments.
no_incident routine_maintenance
🚨 Minor Incident $159K/yr
5.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Localized incident requiring a single MTF deployment, limited medical treatment for a few people, and small cover-up/legal actions.
single_mtf_deployment limited_medical_treatment small_coverup
🚨 Major Incident $1.2M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$1.1M vs baseline
Public exposure or large-scale incident with dozens injured requiring extensive medical care, large amnestic administration, MTF response, and substantial cover-up/legal costs.
public_exposure large_casualty_medical_response extensive_coverup_and_legal_action
👥 Personnel 0.225 total
Role Count Notes
Containment Custodian / Technician 0.15 [#5] Part-time (0.15 FTE) assigned custodian/technician responsible for routine checks, custody transfers and paperwork.
Research Technician 0.075 [#6, #9, #16] Technician time for monthly inspections, analytical sample prep/testing, and training updates (fractional FTE aggregated into recurring labor budget).
📋 Confidence Notes
Containment, equipment, and recurring staff/legal costs are well-specified and supported by itemized estimates; incident and cover-up costs are highly variable (orders-of-magnitude uncertainty) so overall confidence is medium.
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