SCP-5187 — SCP-5187 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-5187 Archived ~ medium confidence

SCP-5187

Expected annual

$1.7M

One-time setup

$1.5M

Annual recurring

$1.4M

Personnel

Initial setup and facility fit-out are ~ $1.46M (main drivers: vault/interlock construction, equipment, and contingency reserves). Recurring annual costs are ~ $1.39M/yr driven primarily by staff wages, ongoing monitoring, field readiness, legal/takedown, and administrative overhead.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.5M

Containment Incident Contingency $500K

[#22] One-time contingency reserve (small-to-medium scale) to seed emergency response funds and planning.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $275K

[#10, #11, #20, #28] Secure research lab upgrades (visual isolation, air-gap) (#10), controlled indoor viewing/study infrastructure (#11), initial experiment series/setup (#20), long-term archival backup creation (#28).

Public Health Escalation Plan $250K

[#30] Planning/coordination/reserve for liaison with national authorities and public-health escalation planning (one-time planning & exercises).

Equipment $212K

[#3, #4, #13, #14, #15] Physical containment casing (#3), CCTV/install (#4), mobile enclosed transport purchase/fit-out (#13), secure destruction hardware purchase (#14), initial digital controls/forensics systems (#15).

Facilities $185K

[#1, #2] Vault construction/fit-out and access interlock anteroom (climate control, electronic locks, biometric readers, airlock-style door).

Sop Development $25K

[#8] SOP development, initial training program and materials, drills (one-time development/implementation cost).

Personnel Screening Initial $10K

[#9] Initial background checks and pre-hire psychological screening for initial containment/research hires (aggregate estimate).

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.4M/yr

Staff Wages $790K/yr

[#5, #6, #7] Security personnel (24/7 guards), memetics research team salaries (researchers + lead), containment technicians/handlers — all-in annual wages and benefits.

Logistics And Transport $100K/yr

[#12] Field retrieval and rapid-response standby costs (vehicles/equipment/on-call staffing standby).

Cover Story And Legal $100K/yr

[#16] Legal takedown and cover operations, DMCA/ISP liaison, content removal and legal costs (recurring retainer/operations).

Research And Monitoring $93K/yr

[#20, #21, #27, #28] Ongoing experimentation program (recurring studies), automated derivative-copy monitoring/web crawlers (#21), expected forensic/investigation follow-up costs (#27), archival maintenance (#28).

Administrative Overhead $50K/yr

[#23] Classified paperwork, chain-of-custody logs, audit staff, and secure record storage administrative costs.

Opportunity Costs $50K/yr

[#25] Productivity drag and research overhead from restrictive handling policies (provisioned as a percentage of program budget).

Red Team Testing $40K/yr

[#24] Periodic red-team/insider-threat tests (assumed frequency and cost averaged annually).

Interdepartmental Coordination $25K/yr

[#26] Travel, meetings, and coordination costs with other departments and agencies.

Facilities Maintenance $20K/yr

[#1, #2] Vault/climate-control and interlock maintenance, periodic structural/systems upkeep.

Field Retrieval Deployment Expected $20K/yr

[#12] Expected annual budget for actual deployments (per-deployment costs averaged over expected frequency).

Amnestic Incident Expected $20K/yr

[#17] Expected annual budget for amnestic/medical/psychiatric care for incidental exposures (averaged per year).

Insurance And Legal Reserve $20K/yr

[#19] Liability insurance premiums and legal defense reserve (annual).

Sop Training Refresh $12K/yr

[#8] Annual SOP refreshers, memetics-specific training modules, drills and retraining to avoid complacency.

Personnel Monitoring Ongoing $10K/yr

[#9] Ongoing psychological monitoring, periodic evaluations, background rechecks for staff.

Digital Controls Maintenance $10K/yr

[#15] Maintenance for encrypted storage, write-block policies, forensic tool subscriptions and IT upkeep.

Public Relations Incident Response $10K/yr

[#18] Retained PR/response budget for limited incidents and monitoring (small annual retainer).

Cctv Maintenance $6K/yr

[#4] Recurring CCTV and asset sensor maintenance, software subscriptions, storage costs.

Supplies And Consumables $6K/yr

[#29] Small consumables, replacement seals, RFID tags, batteries, small repairs.

Disposal Contract $5K/yr

[#14] Recurring secure disposal/contracted destruction service (if used instead of on-site incinerator maintenance).

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.4M/yr

90.0% probability / year

Normal uneventful year with routine containment, monitoring, training, and no outdoor exposures or major retrieval operations.

no breaches routine operations scheduled training and maintenance

🚨 Minor Incident $1.5M/yr

7.0% probability / year +$120K vs baseline

Single localized unauthorized outdoor posting or small public exposure requiring field retrieval, amnestic administration to a few civilians, targeted takedowns and PR response.

unauthorized outdoor photo posted/left in public single field retrieval deployment limited PR and amnestic response

🚨 Major Breach $2.4M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline

Multiple outdoor reproductions or a larger localized event requiring several retrievals, larger amnestic deployment, broad forensic/ legal response and use of contingency funds.

widespread local dissemination multiple deployment operations significant PR/legal/amnestic expenditures

🚨 Catastrophic Mass Exposure $26.4M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$25.0M vs baseline

Large-scale outdoor dissemination causing mass exposures/panic requiring national-level emergency public-health response, mass amnestic distribution, and long-term remediation.

mass public dissemination national media attention need for large-scale amnestic/public-health intervention

👥 Personnel 13 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	6	[#5] 24/7 coverage (rotating shifts) to enforce no-outdoor-transport policy and respond to alarms.
Research Scientist (Memetics)	4	[#6] Dedicated memetics researchers (2–4 specialists plus project lead — represented here as 4 total).
Containment Technician / Handler	3	[#7] Technicians trained for safe indoor handling, inventory, and destruction of unauthorized copies.

📋 Confidence Notes

Cost categories and ranges are inferred from the analyst notes and standard memetics containment practice; many items (incident frequency, scale of public exposure, insurance rates) are uncertain so estimates are medium-confidence.

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