SCP-4789 — SCP-4789 | Cost Breakdown

Read on SCP Wiki ↗

SCP-4789 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-4789

Expected annual

$795K

One-time setup

$808K

Annual recurring

$780K

Personnel

5.5

Initial setup costs are modest-to-moderate (mostly for a sound‑isolated sleep/test room and monitoring equipment) while the primary recurring costs are personnel (research + security), continuous data storage/analysis, and legal/PR/insurance obligations.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $808K

Initial Escalation Reserve $500K

[#27] One-time contingency/escalation reserve for unpredictable anomalous escalation requiring relocation or rapid remediation.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $100K

[#6] Polysomnography/EEG and associated environmental/physiological monitoring suites, high-speed/IR cameras, audio recorders, and multi-parameter sensors for initial lab outfitting.

Initial Liability Reserve $100K

[#20] One-time initial reserve to cover early liability or small property damage (per analyst note range).

Facilities $54K

[#1, #5, #15, #14] Includes secure Safe-class locker installation, one insulated sleep/test room conversion, anchoring/fixture retrofits, and one-time electrical safety upgrades for test rooms.

Equipment $28K

[#2, #4, #16, #17, #23] CCTV and access-control setup, initial tamper-evident kit purchase, conservation/display case, digitization hardware, and IT/security hardware setup.

Monitoring Home Kits Setup $20K

[#22] One-time purchase/setup of sensor kits for monitoring a cohort of former-subject homes (10-home setup estimate).

Sop And Training $6K

[#3] One-time development of chain-of-custody, SOPs, legal templates and initial staff training sessions.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $780K/yr

Staff Wages $456K/yr

[#8, #9] Salaries and benefits for research personnel (PI, sleep technician, lab tech, part-time admin) and on-site security staffing (2 guards). Benefits estimated ~25% on top of base salaries.

Cover Story And Legal $100K/yr

[#21] Legal retainer, NDAs, limited public messaging and PR/cover measures to manage confidentiality and potential civilian exposure.

Subject Recruitment And Compensation $50K/yr

[#11] Recruitment, per-night subject compensation and travel for a moderate testing program (e.g. ~100 subject-nights scaled conservatively).

Medical Coverage Retainer $45K/yr

[#10] Physician/EMT on-call retainer for sleep testing, rapid-response arrangements and per-incident coverage not included here.

Insurance Premium $30K/yr

[#20] Annual insurance premium or internal reserve contribution to cover liability and small damages arising from testing (mid-range estimate).

Opportunity Costs $20K/yr

[#26] Operational disruption allowance for lost lab time, reallocation of rooms/staff and administrative overhead.

Research And Monitoring $12K/yr

[#7] Ongoing sensor data storage, encrypted backups, software licenses and cloud/TB storage costs for multi-camera and EEG datasets.

Monitoring Homes $12K/yr

[#22] Ongoing monitoring fees for previously monitored former-subject homes (monthly monitoring for ~10 homes as a scaled example).

Facilities Maintenance $10K/yr

[#13] Annual reserve for structural repairs, paint, moisture/impact repairs; covers routine wear and bite-mark/impact remediation.

Forensic Analysis $10K/yr

[#12] Forensic sampling, microscopy, sequencing and follow-up biological tests when bite marks or tissue traces occur.

Site Access And Cctv Monitoring $7K/yr

[#2] Monthly monitoring/storage/operations costs for badge readers and CCTV (30-day retention) and logging integration.

Ethics Oversight And Irb $6K/yr

[#24] External ethics reviewers, IRB-style reviews and periodic human-subjects audits.

Supplies And Consumables $5K/yr

[#18] EEG electrodes, disposable sensors, gloves, cleaning supplies, sample vials and routine decontamination consumables.

Logistics And Transport $5K/yr

[#4] Recurring secure transport and packaging (courier costs per move) for transfers between facilities or to test rooms.

Training And Drills $4K/yr

[#25] Annual SOP refreshers, emergency drills for electrical/thermal events and staff training updates.

It Security Maintenance $3K/yr

[#23] Maintenance, audits and minor updates for encrypted repositories, access logging and redaction tooling.

Biohazard Disposal $2K/yr

[#19] Certified disposal of biological sampling materials and contaminated disposables.

Electrical Inspections $1K/yr

[#14] Annual inspections for arc-faults, grounding and fire-safety systems.

Conservation Climate Control $600/yr

[#16] Annual climate-control / archival maintenance for the physical artifacts (cardboard glasses, DVDs).

Legal And Incident Contingency Other $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $780K/yr

88.0% probability / year

Normal operational year with routine monitoring, scheduled tests, and no major incidents.

scheduled_testing routine_monitoring no_unexpected_escalation

🚨 Minor Incident $810K/yr

10.0% probability / year +$30K vs baseline

Localized property damage or minor medical/forensic incident requiring repairs, extra testing, and limited legal work.

bite-mark_wall_damage small_electrical_discharge single-subject_medical_event

🚨 Major Breach $1.4M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$600K vs baseline

Significant escalation: fire/equipment loss or multi-site effect requiring relocation, major repairs, large legal exposure and extended monitoring.

equipment_fire_or_overheat multiple_homes_affected litigation_or_media_exposure

👥 Personnel 5.5 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist (PI)	1	[#8] Full-time principal investigator responsible for study oversight.
Sleep Technician	1	[#8] Operates polysomnography/EEG and monitors overnight testing.
Lab Technician	1	[#8] Handles sample processing, equipment setup and routine lab tasks.
Administrative Staff	0.5	[#8] Part-time administrative support for scheduling, records and chain-of-custody documentation.
Security Officer / MTF Agent	2	[#9] On-site guards assigned to containment area and access control during tests.

📋 Confidence Notes

Analyst notes provide detailed line items and ranges so category mapping is clear, but many recurring costs (number of subject-nights, incident frequency, insurance/reserve sizing) are uncertain, producing moderate confidence.

← SCP-4788 ↑ All SCPs SCP-4790 →