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SCP-520 Unknown ~ medium confidence
SCP-520
Expected annual
$1.4M
One-time setup
$1.0M
Annual recurring
$1.4M
Personnel
14
Initial one-time capital/setup costs are approximately $1,010,000 driven by containment construction, shielding, prototype setup and an incident-response reserve; recurring annual operating costs are approximately $1,377,600 driven primarily by staff wages (security, engineers, researchers), PoI care, legal/cover-story expenses, and ongoing research/monitoring.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.0M
Facilities $450K
[#1, #2, #4, #15] Secure containment locker/vault, Faraday/EM shielding, isolated test chamber build-out, and two PoI custody suite set-ups (two suites total).
Incident Response Reserve $300K
[#19] One-time contingency / incident-response reserve fund (notional one-time capital reserve; listed as replenish-able).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $200K
[#6, #14, #21, #25] Instrumentation/test-bench and laboratory buildout, prototype/R&D fabrication one-time costs, archival/scanning/forensics one-time work, and initial SOP/training development.
Equipment $60K
[#3, #5, #10, #20] Initial purchase/installation of insulating clamps (initial), redundant UPS/isolation transformers and kill-switches, monitoring/CCTV setup (one-time portion), and armored transfer case / transport kit purchase.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.4M/yr
Staff Wages $840K/yr
[#11, #12, #13, #17, #18, #30] 24/7 physical security (guards + supervisor), containment engineers/electrical specialists, research scientists (salaries), weekly inspection and supervised meeting labor, and project/administrative overhead (loaded FTE costs).
Cover Story And Legal $125K/yr
[#26] Liability, cover-story, secrecy operations and legal counsel budget to maintain plausible deniability and handle exposure risk.
Poi Care And Containment $120K/yr
[#16] Ongoing PoI housing, medical care, mental-health services, escorts and security for two PoIs (recurring accommodation and care budget).
Research And Monitoring $101K/yr
[#13, #22, #28, #25] Research consulting and analysis (short-term consulting), software/classification tools and compute resources, long-term specimen/materials analysis (SEM/TEM/XRD/etc.), and recurring training/SOP refreshers.
Incident Response Replenishment $50K/yr
[#19] Annual replenishment allocation to rebuild the incident-response/contingency reserve after use.
Supplies And Consumables $33K/yr
[#7, #23, #24] Consumable test devices inventory procurement, procurement/inventory management of assets slated for disposal, and PPE/chemical agents for de-oxidation and sample preservation.
Insurance And External Contractors $30K/yr
[#27] Retainer/insurance and external contractor fees for HAZMAT & specialist forensic services (annual retainer; per-call fees budgeted separately in incident contingencies).
Hazmat Cleanup And Disposal $30K/yr
[#8] HazMat cleanup, hazardous-waste disposal and contractor fees for oxidized/contaminated components (annual budget based on incident frequency).
Facilities Maintenance $28K/yr
[#9, #10, #29] Routine containment hardware inspection/maintenance, monitoring/CCTV maintenance/storage, and replacement parts/wear & tear for fixtures and fittings.
Logistics And Transport $20K/yr
[#20] Recurring transport/relocation costs (per-transfer operating budget; assumes occasional secure transfers/year).
Insulating Clamps Replacements $600/yr
[#3] Annual replacement/inspection budget for insulating clamps and retention fixtures (recurring small budget).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.4M/yr
88.5% probability / year
Normal uneventful year with routine operations, scheduled testing limited, no major incidents or exposures.
routine_testing scheduled_maintenance normal_poi_activities
🚨 Minor Incident $1.5M/yr
10.0% probability / year +$80K vs baseline
Small containment incident or equipment failure requiring cleanup, limited repairs, and short operational disruption.
localized_hazmat_cleanup equipment_replacement small_external_claims
🚨 Major Breach $2.4M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline
Significant containment breach or unintended off-site effect requiring major repairs, large external response, legal action, and reserve drawdown.
containment_breach off-site_anomalous_effects large_scale_recovery
🚨 Political Exposure $1.9M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$500K vs baseline
Disclosure or near-disclosure leading to expensive cover operations, legal settlements, and increased public-facing expenditures.
media_exposure attribution_risk litigation
👥 Personnel 14 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 7 [#11] 6 guards across 3 shifts plus 1 supervisor (loaded staffing reflected in recurring security wages).
Research Scientist 2 [#13] Two anomalous electrical engineering research FTEs (loaded).
Engineer / Maintenance 2 [#12] 1–2 electrical engineers/technicians (modeled as 2 FTEs loaded).
Project Manager / Administrative Staff 1 [#30] Program/project manager and administrative overhead (0.5–1.0 FTE modeled as 1 FTE).
Technician / Test Operator 1 [#17, #18] Lab/inspection technician performing weekly device checks and supervised meeting logistics.
Medical Officer / Care Staff 1 [#16] Staff to support PoI ongoing care, escorting and medical oversight (loaded into PoI care budget).
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes and the article provide line-item ranges and clear operational requirements, enabling a mid-confidence estimate; significant ranges and uncertain incident probabilities (and the object's selection-class reach) keep confidence from being high.
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