SCP-4074 — SCP-4074 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-4074 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-4074

Expected annual

$750K

One-time setup

$738K

Annual recurring

$742K

Personnel

2.3

First-year one-time setup and contingencies are the main upfront drivers (~$737,500), while annual operating costs are dominated by personnel, applied research, and site overhead (~$741,500/year). Hydrogen-safety and potential scalability/incident response are key cost risks.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $738K

Initial Research And Lab Setup $250K

[#5, #13] Advanced lab instrumentation and initial bench/setup for bioluminescence R&D (GC-MS/optical spectrometer/thermal camera + research program bench equipment).

Facilities $100K

[#1] Containment-room renovation: modify 1–2 grow rooms with explosion-proofing, sealed penetrations, controlled-environment fit-out.

Contingency Reserve $100K

[#19] One-time emergency/accident reserve for major incidents (fire/explosion, relocation, major repairs).

Scalability Contingency $100K

[#25] One-time quick-build containment/greenhouse and rapid-hire contingency for propagation events.

Equipment $68K

[#3, #4, #7] Hydrogen & noble-gas safety hardware, gas-monitoring instruments, and secure seed storage cabinet/safe (sensors, analyzers, dataloggers, secure cabinet).

Medical Acute Care $40K

[#11] Acute ICU costs for SCP-4074-1 (2–4 week stay, emergency interventions, diagnostics).

Ip And Commercialization $30K

[#22] Initial IP/commercialization consultancy and patent filing preparatory costs.

Legal And Cover Setup $20K

[#21] One-time legal/cover-story setup, records management and initial FOIA/cover mitigation costs.

Transportation Vehicle Upgrades $10K

[#20] One-time secure transport/vehicle retrofit costs if purchasing/upgrading vehicles for transfers.

Public Incident Initial $10K

[#24] Initial public/ethical incident response setup budget for potential exposure responses.

Training And Sop Development $5K

[#17] Initial training and SOP development for plant handling, hydrogen-safety, and emergency drills.

Documentation Integration $5K

[#15] One-time LIMS/integration and initial secure archival integration costs.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $742K/yr

Applied Research Program $250K/yr

[#13] Recurring salaries, consumables, and prototype costs for bioluminescence R&D if pursued.

Staff Wages $210K/yr

[#9] Salaries and benefits for dedicated personnel (senior researcher, plant technician, fractional lab manager).

Security And Access $50K/yr

[#10] Security overhead, escorts, access-control admin and/or one FTE guard allocation.

Routine Site Overhead $50K/yr

[#23] Apportioned site overhead (utilities, security operations, building maintenance).

Scalability Recurring $50K/yr

[#25] Additional recurring costs if propagation increases containment footprint (temporary hires, utilities).

Medical Psych Personnel $30K/yr

[#12] Physician and psychologist/interrogator time and clinical evaluation support.

Outsourced Specialized Testing $20K/yr

[#14] Annual budget for isotopic analysis, advanced spectroscopy, external vendor testing.

Contingency Replenish $20K/yr

[#19] Annual replenishment for contingency/incident reserve.

Cover Story And Legal $10K/yr

[#21] Ongoing legal retainers, cover-story maintenance, and records audits.

Medical Followup $7K/yr

[#11] Ongoing medical follow-ups, monitoring, and outpatient care for affected individuals.

Facilities Maintenance $6K/yr

[#2] Environmental control energy and routine HVAC/lighting maintenance (precision HVAC, humidity/light controllers).

Logistics And Transport $6K/yr

[#20] Annual secure transfer/transport budget for escorts, fuel, and periodic transfers.

Outsourced Research Runs $5K/yr

[#5] Occasional outsourced GC-MS/advanced runs if on-site purchase is deferred.

Documentation And Software $5K/yr

[#15] LIMS hosting, backups, secure image/video archival and software maintenance.

Public Incident Monitoring $4K/yr

[#24] Ongoing monitoring for leaks, public knowledge mitigation, and ethical incident follow-ups.

Supplies And Consumables $3K/yr

[#6] Basic horticulture consumables and fixtures (pots, media, nutrient solutions, sterile trays).

Hydrogen Safety Maintenance $3K/yr

[#3] Maintenance and calibration of hydrogen detectors, ventilation upkeep, and explosion-proof fixtures.

Seed Destruction $3K/yr

[#8] Routine disposal/incineration contracts for seed destruction and associated logging.

Waste Management $3K/yr

[#18] Hazardous biological/chemical waste disposal contracts.

Instrument Calibration $2K/yr

[#4] Calibration and consumables for gas analyzers, handheld spectrometers, and dataloggers.

Training And Sop Refreshers $2K/yr

[#17] Annual refresher training and instructor time costs.

Seed Storage Maintenance $1K/yr

[#7] LN2/low-temperature storage maintenance and audits for secure seed vault.

Ppe And Hygiene $1K/yr

[#16] Gloves, gowns, sterilization consumables, disinfectants.

Research And Monitoring $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $742K/yr

92.0% probability / year

Normal year with routine monitoring, consumables, staff wages, and modest maintenance; no major incidents or large-scale R&D expansions.

no_incidents standard_operations

🚨 Minor Incident $766K/yr

5.0% probability / year +$25K vs baseline

Small containment incident or equipment failure requiring repairs, extra testing, and incident response.

small_lab_accident single_seed_release minor_equipment_damage

🚨 Hydrogen Explosion Event $1.0M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$300K vs baseline

Hydrogen ignition/ventilation failure causing fire/explosion damage and temporary relocation/repair of containment room.

nebula_ignition ventilation_failure electrical_spark

🚨 Propagation Scaling Event $942K/yr

2.0% probability / year +$200K vs baseline

Accidental or intentional propagation requires rapid expansion of containment footprint, hiring, and extra recurring support.

uncontrolled_propagation seed_escape quarantine_breach

👥 Personnel 2.3 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist	1	[#9] Senior botanical lead researcher (full-time) responsible for SCP research and oversight.
Plant Technician	1	[#9] Full-time plant technician for husbandry and daily containment maintenance.
Lab Manager / Administrator (FTE)	0.3	[#9] Fractional lab manager (0.2–0.5 FTE) for administrative coordination, scheduling, and compliance.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates are drawn from analyst ranges in notes but many items have wide ranges (R&D scale, one-time contingency size, and hydrogen incident probability). Assumptions made about pursuing applied research and chosen midpoints reduce precision; unexpected incidents could materially change costs.

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