SCP-385
Safe
~
medium confidence
SCP-385
Expected annual
$4.1M
One-time setup
$15.2M
Annual recurring
$4.0M
Personnel
23
Upfront capital ranges from modest (reuse of existing polar station fit-out) to very large (dedicated polar module); total one-time capital here aggregates to ~$15.2M driven by facility/module buildout, safety/capture systems, and emergency reserves, while recurring annual costs (~$4.05M/yr) are dominated by staff wages, polar logistics/transport, power/fuel and ongoing research/testing.
One-Time Capital Costs
Total: $15.2M
Annual Recurring Costs
Total: $4.0M/yr
Cost Scenarios
📊
Baseline
(baseline)
$4.0M/yr
Normal year with routine testing cadence and no major incidents; all recurring programs run as budgeted.
scheduled_tests
routine_maintenance
no_incidents
🚨
Minor Incident
$4.6M/yr
Isolated containment/test incident requiring medevac, emergency transport and limited cleanup/legal response.
single_test_mishap
local_contamination
single_medevac
🚨
Major Breach
$8.8M/yr
Major containment breach or catastrophic experiment failure requiring full incident-response reserve, extended salvage, litigation and possible rebuild/secondary containment activation.
runaway_experiment
major_breach
litigation_and_site_rebuild
Personnel
23 total
| Role | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Research Scientist (Level-4) | 1 | [#6] Senior Level-4 authorized researcher overseeing experiments |
| Researcher / Engineer | 3 | [#6] Supporting researchers/engineers (aerospace, instrumentation) |
| Data Analyst | 1 | [#6] Data analysis and instrumentation monitoring |
| Security Officer / MTF Agent | 12 | [#7] On-site armed security: 4guards per shift, 3-shift coverage |
| Site Director / Executive Staff | 1 | [#7] Site operations manager and executive oversight |
| Logistics Coordinator | 1 | [#7] Logistics and transport coordination for polar operations |
| Medical Officer | 1 | [#15] On-site medic / medical coverage |
| Engineer / Maintenance | 1 | [#12, #13] Power, HVAC and general site maintenance |
| Conservator / Artifact Specialist | 1 | [#1] Periodic conservation treatments and artifact monitoring |
| Administrative Staff | 1 | [#7, #17] Administrative and legal/permit support |
Confidence Notes
Estimates are based on analyst line-item ranges from polar operations and SCP-specific requirements; major uncertainties remain around choice of facility strategy (reuse vs dedicated module), frequency of test deployments, and tail-event probabilities, so confidence is medium.