← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-429 Unknown ✓ high confidence
SCP-429
Expected annual
$1.6M
One-time setup
$1.4M
Annual recurring
$1.5M
Personnel
12.5
Recommended initial capital of approximately $1.39M to cover vault upgrades, robotics/interlock systems, transport, duplicates and contingency; dominant ongoing costs are staffing, rapid-retrieval readiness, legal/insurance and contingency reserve yielding ~ $1.52M/yr recurring. [#27]
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.4M
Facilities $650K
[#1, #10] Type-3 hazardous vault upgrade (~$500,000 recommended) plus autopsy/biocontainment room setup (~$150,000).
Equipment $300K
[#2, #3, #17] Custom interlock/control-guard hardware (~$40,000), robotic remote-manipulation/observation rig (~$250,000), CCTV/local sensors initial (~$10,000).
Secure Transport Vehicle $170K
[#13] Armored/secure transport vehicle (~$150,000) + secure crate (~$10,000) + training/licensing (~$10,000) included in one-time vehicle provisioning.
Duplicate Fabrication $100K
[#14] Initial engineering study and fabrication of physical duplicates for safe testing/prototyping (~$100,000 recommended).
Decommissioning Reserve $100K
[#26] Reserve allowance for potential decommissioning/secure disposal (~$100,000).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $25K
[#4] High-precision time-synchronization and data-logging array initial setup (~$25,000).
Training And Sop Development $25K
[#16] Initial SOP development and first-year training/certification (~$25,000).
Conservation Treatment $10K
[#19] One-off conservation treatment for brass/leather (~$10,000 initial).
It Security And Backups $10K
[#20] Initial IT security, off-site encrypted backups and air-gapped archive setup (~$10,000).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.5M/yr
Staff Wages $902K/yr
[#5, #6, #7, #8] Security staffing (9 FTE × $45k + benefits ≈ $526,500), 2 containment technicians (~$182,000 with benefits), 1 research scientist (~$130,000 with benefits), 0.5 FTE medic/medical support + consumables (~$63,000).
Contingency Reserve $253K/yr
[#22] Contingency reserve calculated as 20% of baseline recurring (~$253,100/yr; within recommended 15–25% range).
Research And Monitoring $105K/yr
[#4, #14, #15] Ongoing data storage/maintenance (~$5,000/yr), duplicate prototyping/engineering updates (~$25,000/yr), controlled human testing budget (~$75,000/yr allocated).
Logistics And Transport $100K/yr
[#9] Emergency retrieval / rapid-response reserve for helicopters/charters/vehicles (~$100,000/yr).
Cover Story And Legal $85K/yr
[#11, #12, #25] Legal/PR/cover-up fund (~$50,000/yr), institutional liability insurance (~$20,000/yr), documentation/compliance/legal counsel (~$15,000/yr).
Duplicate Prototyping $25K/yr
[#14] Ongoing prototyping and iterative engineering (~$25,000/yr).
Specialist Consultations $25K/yr
[#24] Contracts with specialists (watchmakers, temporal physicists, forensics) (~$25,000/yr).
Facilities Maintenance $11K/yr
[#23, #19, #17] Utilities and routine facility maintenance (~$5,000/yr), ongoing environmental monitoring (~$3,000/yr), CCTV/monitor maintenance (~$3,000/yr).
Biohazard Incident Response $10K/yr
[#10] Annualized budget for per-incident biohazard/autopsy/cleanup response (~$10,000/yr average based on $5k–$25k per incident).
Training And Sop Refresh $10K/yr
[#16] Annual refresher training and drills (~$10,000/yr).
Long Term Archival $10K/yr
[#21] Archival, chain-of-custody and periodic audits (~$10,000/yr).
Supplies And Consumables $5K/yr
[#18] Consumables and PPE, spare parts, batteries, seals (~$5,000/yr).
It Security And Backups $3K/yr
[#20] Ongoing IT maintenance, backups and security (~$3,000/yr).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.5M/yr
88.0% probability / year
Normal uneventful year with routine operations, training, monitoring and reserves.
no_incident routine_operations
🚨 Minor Incident $1.6M/yr
10.0% probability / year +$35K vs baseline
Accidental short-range activation or single decayed-return incident requiring retrieval, medical care, biohazard cleanup and limited legal response.
accidental_activation short_range_activation decayed_subject_recovery
🚨 Major Breach $2.7M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$1.2M vs baseline
Theft or public exposure requiring large-scale retrieval operations, extended legal/PR response, potential settlements and emergency scale-up.
theft public_exposure successful_remote_activation
👥 Personnel 12.5 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 9 [#5] 9 FTE to provide 24/7 coverage with overlap; salaries and benefits included in staff_wages.
Engineer / Maintenance (Containment Technician) 2 [#6] 2 FTE to maintain interlocks, robotics and perform diagnostics.
Research Scientist 1 [#7] 1 FTE for controlled testing, analysis and supervision.
Medical Officer / Paramedic 0.5 [#8] 0.5 FTE (on-call / part-time) for pre/post activation care and monitoring.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide line-item estimates and recommended figures for each major cost driver (construction, equipment, staffing, response), enabling a high-confidence aggregation; remaining uncertainty is scenario variability and locality-dependent capital costs.
← SCP-428 ↑ All SCPs SCP-430 →