SCP-389 Safe ✓ high confidence
SCP-389
Expected annual
$40K
One-time setup
$215K
Annual recurring
$38K
Personnel
3
First-year costs are dominated by modest one-time forensic and acquisition expenses plus a contingency and an optional high-cost R&D track; normal annual operations are small recurring administrative, analyst, and security costs totaling under $40k/yr.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $215K
Advanced Tracking R&D $150K
[#12] Optional R&D to defeat ~100 m tracking failure (prototypes, vessel time) — speculative/optional
Contingency Fund $25K
[#20] Rapid-response reserve for unexpected escalation, quarantine, or expanded containment
Initial Research And Lab Setup $20K
[#7, #8, #13] Materials analysis & physical testing ($12,000); forensic analysis of correspondence ($8,000); archival kit & initial digitization ($500)
Acquisition Operation $5K
[#1] Field retrieval operation: travel, vehicle, agent time, packaging and incidentals
Legal And Cover Story Initial $5K
[#16] Initial legal/cover-story/liaison costs and contingency payments at acquisition
Equipment $3K
[#11] Shore camera and installation
Amnestic And Civilian Handling $3K
[#2] Amnestic treatment, medical/psych follow-up for holder and witnesses
Facilities $1K
[#4] Secure shelf / lockable case and minor secure box/shelf upgrade for storage allocation
Chain Of Custody Transport $1K
[#3] Secure courier, RFID chain-of-custody documentation, padded case
Sop Creation And Training $1K
[#15] Documentation and initial training session preparation
Biohazard Initial Supplies $500
[#9] PPE kit and initial biohazard handling supplies
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $38K/yr
Staff Wages $28K/yr
[#5, #6, #14] Assigned researcher fractional salary (~$7,500/yr); incremental security guard allocation (~$6,000/yr); data analysis/analyst time (~$15,000/yr)
Research And Monitoring $3K/yr
[#10] Controlled experiment budget (shore tests, sensors, boat rental, consumables)
Insurance And Utilities $2K/yr
[#19] Pro rata share of site overhead, power for cameras/equipment, HR/admin overhead
Cover Story And Legal $2K/yr
[#4, #17] Administrative overhead for registry/shelf assignment ($500/yr) and PR/civilian monitoring ($1,000/yr)
Mental Health Services $1K/yr
[#18] Routine counseling and annual staff evaluations
Facilities Maintenance $600/yr
[#11] Camera data storage, power and maintenance
Refresher Training $500/yr
[#15] Annual refresher training
Biohazard Waste Disposal $300/yr
[#9] Ongoing waste disposal and consumables for biohazard handling
Archival Climate Storage $200/yr
[#13] Climate-controlled storage prorated share for archived correspondence
Supplies And Consumables $0/yr
[]
Logistics And Transport $0/yr
[]
Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $38K/yr
95.5% probability / year
Normal uneventful year with routine monitoring, inspections, analyst work, and minor consumables.
no_incident routine_monitoring scheduled_experiments
🚨 Minor Incident $48K/yr
3.0% probability / year +$10K vs baseline
Small retrieval or equipment damage requiring emergency response and minor additional analysis.
unexpected_loss_at_sea equipment_damage short-term_retrieval
🚨 Major Breach $138K/yr
0.5% probability / year +$100K vs baseline
Public exposure or loss requiring intensive containment response, expanded cover operations, and emergency procurement.
public_exposure data_leak civilian_recovery
🚨 Advanced Tracking Rd $188K/yr
1.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline
Leadership greenlights optional R&D to track SCP-389 beyond 100 m (prototyping, vessel operations).
leadership_approval research_investment prototype_deployment
👥 Personnel 3 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 1 [#5] Assigned researcher (fractional 5–10% FTE; one named PI responsible)
Security Officer / MTF Agent 1 [#6] Marginal guard allocation (~0.1 FTE) for extra checks/occasional escort
Research Analyst 1 [#14] Linguist/xenobiology/cultural analyst time (0.2–0.5 FTE equivalent)
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide line-item cost estimates for all activities (acquisition, forensics, recurring staff and maintenance); object behavior is well-described and containment requirements are low, so cost estimates are well-constrained.
← SCP-388 ↑ All SCPs SCP-390 →