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SCP-4046 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-4046
Expected annual
$725K
One-time setup
$138K
Annual recurring
$694K
Personnel
4
One-time capital costs are modest (~$137.5k) driven by a small dedicated testing room and specialized equipment; recurring annual costs are dominated by personnel (security, medical, research), legal/OPSEC/cover operations, amnestic provisioning, and long-term welfare funds (~$694k/yr). A program performing ~50 activations/yr will push recurring costs into the mid-six-figure range.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $138K
Facilities $60K
[#2] Retrofit/build-out of a child-friendly secure testing/observation room with one-way mirror, HVAC, antechamber and lockable features.
Equipment $54K
[#1, #3, #4, #5, #22] Secure containment locker ($#1), medical monitoring & emergency equipment ($#3), one-time portion of video/audio & air-gapped encryption hardware ($#4), air-gapped analysis workstation & test harness ($#5), replacement/spare units & backups ($#22).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $15K
[#6] Electronics teardown and lab tools (stereo microscope, micro-soldering, ESD bench, chip-decapping access tooling).
Sem Access $8K
[#7] Per-analysis SEM/advanced materials access (budgeted here as a representative single full-analysis cost / capital-ish per-project expense).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $694K/yr
Staff Wages $228K/yr
[#9, #10, #11] Security staffing (2 rotating guards), prorated Level-3 research oversight (0.25 FTE), and allocated medical staffing (nurse + part-time pediatrician/on-call equivalents).
Cover Story And Legal $125K/yr
[#14, #16] Annual legal/OPSEC team and per-subject cover/consent/compensation and records fabrication budgets aggregated for program operations (~team + per-subject costs).
Research And Monitoring $107K/yr
[#12, #17, #20, #24] Pediatric psychological follow-up program, ethics/IRB-style internal review and admin, data analysis & secure archival storage, and occasional external peer consultations.
Amnestic Drugs $50K/yr
[#13] Consumable/amnestics provisioning, secure pharmacy storage and administration supplies estimated across ~50 subjects/yr.
Contingency Fund $50K/yr
[#21] Rapid-response / incident reserve for unplanned medical complications, whistleblower incidents, additional amnestic runs, or temporary relocations.
Long Term Welfare $50K/yr
[#23] Indemnity and long-term care/compensation budget for subjects who develop sequelae (program-level pool).
Logistics And Transport $25K/yr
[#15] Secure transport and escort costs for subjects (estimated per-transfer cost times ~50 transfers/yr).
Facilities Maintenance $22K/yr
[#8, #4] Pro-rated secure-wing overhead: utilities, HVAC, environmental control for electronics; also ongoing storage/maintenance costs for recording hardware.
Communication And Opsec $20K/yr
[#25] Ongoing secure communications, cover social media/press management, leak monitoring and OPSEC programs.
Training And Background Checks $15K/yr
[#18] Annual specialized training for staff, pediatric emergency training, and clearance/background renewals.
Supplies And Consumables $2K/yr
[#19] Consumables per experiment (gloves, disinfectant, disposable medical supplies, replacement peripherals) estimated across ~50 activations/yr.
Per Experiment Blended Marginal $0/yr
[#26] Example per-subject blended marginal cost is acknowledged in planning guidance; individual components are budgeted separately in amnestic_drugs, research_and_monitoring, supplies_and_consumables, cover_story_and_legal, and logistics_and_transport, so no separate double-counted line here.
Program Annual Baseline Sample $0/yr
[#27] The analyst's sample program aggregate (50 activations/yr) was used to allocate recurring line-items above; this entry is a pointer to that aggregation and is not an additional cost line.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $694K/yr
83.0% probability / year
Normal year with no major incidents: routine testing and scheduled activations (~50/yr) with all planned staffing, amnestics, and follow-up.
routine_activations no_unexpected_medical_events
🚨 Minor Incident $769K/yr
15.0% probability / year +$75K vs baseline
Single-subject medical or psychological complication requiring hospitalization, extra amnestic/medical care, additional follow-up, and legal/admin work.
unexpected_medical_complication severe_psychological_reaction partial_anomalous_effect
🚨 Major Breach $1.7M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline
Significant containment failure or public exposure (e.g., subject disappearance, media attention, or anomalous projection) requiring large-scale response, PR/cover, legal payouts, and extended remediation.
public_exposure unauthorized_transport_or_teleportation mass_media_attention
👥 Personnel 4 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 Two rotating guards for overnight and access control; combined estimated salary/benefits ~$110,000/yr. [#9]
Research Scientist 1 Level-3 researcher responsible for approvals and oversight (0.25 FTE allocated to program, prorated cost ~$37,500/yr). [#10]
Medical Officer / Nurse 1 Combined nurse + part-time pediatrician/on-call coverage equivalence allocated to program (~$80,000/yr total allocation for on-call/per-diem and partial FTE). [#11]
📋 Confidence Notes
Capital items and recurring categories are well described in analyst notes, so budget categories and orders of magnitude are reliable; specific per-subject costs, chosen activation volume (50/yr), and scenario probabilities remain programmatic assumptions, so precise totals have moderate uncertainty.
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