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SCP-508 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-508
Expected annual
$647K
One-time setup
$402K
Annual recurring
$637K
Personnel
7.65
Initial one-time setup is moderate (~$372k) driven by facility retrofits (testing cell, closet, isolation) and specialized equipment (VHP unit, monitoring, transport). Recurring annual costs are dominated by security and personnel, with a baseline of roughly $637k/yr and contingent per-incident costs handled via scenarios.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $402K
Facilities $185K
[#1, #5, #9] Closet retrofit, sealed positive-pressure testing room (retrofit), and isolation/quarantine suite build/refit combined.
Equipment $176K
[#2, #4, #7, #13, #14, #17, #18, #20, #3] Opaque transport container, vehicle retrofit, VHP generator, emergency extraction equipment, non-visual monitoring hardware, sensors/alarms install, secure storage server, conservation framing, and initial PPE purchase.
Emergency Relocation Reserve $30K
[#25] Liquid emergency fund / reserve for rapid relocation or crisis operations (one-time seed).
Policy And Training Development $10K
[#16] Initial development and rollout of containment policies, sight-restriction procedures, and training program.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $637K/yr
Staff Wages $360K/yr
[#11, #15, #17] Security staffing (24/7 coverage with relief), plus allocated medical on-call (partial FTEs) and incremental monitoring/security staffing.
Research And Monitoring $124K/yr
[#14, #18, #19, #20] Research program budget (scientist salaries and experiment budget), monitoring operator time, secure-data maintenance, and periodic conservation checks.
Cover Story And Legal $75K/yr
[#21] Annual contingency/reserve for legal defense, cover-story work, PR, and associated contingencies.
Insurance And Overhead $40K/yr
[#24] Institutional overhead, insurance premiums or internal chargebacks (allocated).
Incident Team Training $10K/yr
[#13] Annual training/certification for emergency extraction/rigging teams (non-visual handling).
Supplies And Consumables $8K/yr
[#3, #8, #22, #23] Replacement blindfolds/PPE, decontamination consumables, hazardous waste disposal and general consumables.
Facilities Maintenance $6K/yr
[#5, #6] HVAC/pressure system energy and basic maintenance/calibration for the positive-pressure testing room.
Logistics And Transport $6K/yr
[#4, #25] Fuel/maintenance for transfer vehicle retrofits and occasional transport logistics; does not include emergency one-off airlift costs.
Training And Audits $4K/yr
[#16] Annual refresher training, periodic drills, and audit activities.
Decon System Maintenance $4K/yr
[#7] Annual maintenance and service contracts for VHP/fumigation generator.
Conservation Checks $350/yr
[#20] Annual archival condition checks and minor preservation consumables.
Medical Per Incident Costs $0/yr
[#10] Per-incident medical/surgical costs (not included in baseline; budgeted per-event).
Quarantine Per Incident Costs $0/yr
[#9] Per-incident quarantine operational costs (daily subject care).
Psychological Per Incident Costs $0/yr
[#12] Per-subject psychological/long-term monitoring costs (not included in baseline).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $637K/yr
75.0% probability / year
Normal, uneventful year with steady operations, routine testing scheduling avoided or very limited; no major medical or quarantine incidents.
no_major_incidents scheduled_research_only
🚨 Minor Incident $647K/yr
20.0% probability / year +$10K vs baseline
Single minor medical/decon event (e.g., subject requires ER evaluation, short decontamination, possible short quarantine) that raises one-off operational costs.
single_subject_medical_event minor_decon_required
🚨 Major Incident $787K/yr
5.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline
Serious trauma or retention event requiring surgery, long quarantine, emergency relocation, and legal/PR response.
dismemberment_or_severe_trauma subject_retention_and_quarantine legal_exposure
👥 Personnel 7.65 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 6 [#15] 24/7 coverage with relief/overlap to enforce non-visual handling and blindfolded transfers.
Research Scientist 1 [#19] Core research lead / experiment designer funded within research program budget.
Monitoring Technician 0.5 [#14] Telemetry/operator time for non-visual physiological monitoring (part-time/shared).
Medical Officer / Trauma Nurse (allocated FTE) 0.1 [#11] Partial FTE allocation for on-call medical readiness during tests.
Psychiatrist / Psychologist (allocated FTE) 0.05 [#11, #12] Partial FTE allocation for psychological evaluation and follow-up.
📋 Confidence Notes
Core hardware and staffing costs are well-specified; uncertainty remains around testing frequency, incident rates, and institutional pay scales, which materially affect per-incident annualized costs.
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