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SCP-4521 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-4521
Expected annual
$278K
One-time setup
$460K
Annual recurring
$270K
Personnel
6
One-time upfront capital of approximately $460,500 driven by bioterrarium construction, transport, instrumentation, and contingency seed funding. Recurring annual costs approximate $269,900 driven primarily by staff wages, energy, and monitoring/research operations.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $460K
Facilities $168K
[#2, #18] Structural work and retrofit for a dedicated bioterrarium and fire-suppression installation (retrofit/build contractors, reinforced floors/root containment, permits, sprinkler/suppression install).
Equipment $99K
[#3, #4, #7, #8, #10] HVAC/grow systems install, full-spectrum lighting install, security hardware, surveillance hardware & initial data-logging hardware, and initial prototyping/fabrication of stimulus rigs.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $60K
[#5, #9, #14] Soil/substrate and fertigation setup, acoustic research instruments and DAQ, and one-time diagnostic/imaging runs (sequencing/CT) for initial characterization.
Contingency Seed $55K
[#19] Seed reserve fund for unexpected rapid-response needs (quarantine, emergency removal, urgent testing).
Cover Up Initial $26K
[#16] One-time settlements, property compensation, and initial cover-story/amnestic administration to secure discovery site and public narratives.
Recovery And Transport $21K
[#1] Crane rental, heavy-haul trucking, site prep, specialist crew, and amnestic/cover travel for recovery and transport of a mature Douglas fir.
Decommissioning $16K
[#20] End-of-life removal, soil remediation, specimen preservation/archive or replacement for cover purposes.
Regulatory And Legal One Time $15K
[#17] Permits, phytosanitary certificates, inspections, and legal retainer for initial transport/defense.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $270K/yr
Staff Wages $186K/yr
[#6, #11, #12, #7] Salaries/prorated FTEs for horticultural labor (arborist), research staff (botanist/dendrologist, bioacoustician, technicians), analyst time for data review, and apportioned additional guard time.
Logistics And Transport $17K/yr
[#21] Electricity for HVAC, lighting, pumps and data equipment (recurring energy costs) including fuel/maintenance for backup generation.
Inter Anomalous Testing $15K/yr
[#15] Administrative & logistics overhead for coordinating inter-anomalous test campaigns, scheduling, transport and risk reviews (per-campaign overhead averaged across year).
Research And Monitoring $15K/yr
[#8, #9, #12, #14] Recurring monitoring node maintenance, data storage/retention and software licenses, acoustic calibration/consumables, and periodic diagnostic assays if repeated.
Cover Story And Legal $12K/yr
[#16] Ongoing amnestic supplies/personnel, PR/legal costs for routine interactions or minor civilian engagements.
Contingency Replenish $10K/yr
[#19] Annual replenish allocation for the contingency/incident response fund as used.
Supplies And Consumables $9K/yr
[#4, #5, #10, #13] Replacement bulbs/ballasts, soil/nutrient consumables, prototyping repairs/parts for experimental rigs, PPE and routine replacement cables/spare sensors.
Training And Compliance $4K/yr
[#22] Staff training, documentation, biosafety/security briefings and compliance audits.
Facilities Maintenance $2K/yr
[#18] Annual inspections, testing and minor maintenance for fire suppression and related building systems.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $270K/yr
88.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with routine experiments, monitoring, and scheduled maintenance only.
no incidents scheduled research activity standard maintenance
🚨 Minor Incident $320K/yr
10.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Localized event such as a pest outbreak, moderate tree health issue, or small-scale equipment failure requiring emergency response and additional testing.
pest outbreak localized dieback sensor/rig failure
🚨 Major Incident $420K/yr
2.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline
Severe outcome such as sudden die-off, large-scale contamination, or an incident requiring full decommissioning, remediation, legal settlements, and major PR/cover operations.
sudden die-off major contamination public exposure requiring settlements
👥 Personnel 6 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist / Botanist 1 Principal scientist (approx. 0.5 FTE dedicated to SCP-4521 research; salary prorated into staff_wages).
Bioacoustician 1 Part-time specialist (approx. 0.25–0.5 FTE primarily for acoustic experimental design and analysis).
Research Technician 1 Technician for daily experiments, data capture, and equipment maintenance (approx. 0.5 FTE).
Arborist / Groundskeeper 1 Routine horticultural maintenance and inspections (approx. 0.5 FTE or contracted time prorated).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 1 Apportioned additional guard time to protect specimen and testing access (~0.5 FTE equivalent apportioned cost).
Data Analyst / Archivist 1 Part-time analyst for high-rate acoustic/video data curation and archive management (~0.25–0.5 FTE).
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates are based on ranges provided in analyst notes and typical site-level costs; many items (transport, build scope, and frequency of inter-anomalous testing) have wide ranges, producing moderate confidence rather than high.
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