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SCP-5530 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-5530
Expected annual
$752K
One-time setup
$882K
Annual recurring
$734K
Personnel
4
Initial startup costs are dominated by contingency reserve, site stabilization, vehicles and sensor/equipment purchases (~$882,000 one-time). Ongoing annual operations (personnel, surveillance, travel, cover operations and legal/PR) are the main recurring expense (~$734,000/yr).
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $882K
Contingency Reserve $500K
[#19] Recommended initial emergency/contingency reserve (~$500k).
Equipment $137K
[#1, #8, #13, #14, #11] Field sensors/housings ($40k), vehicles/boat purchase ($65k), communications hardware ($10k), remote power installations ($12k), neutralization equipment ($10k).
Facilities $110K
[#9, #15] Evidence locker retrofit ($30k) and building stabilization for SCP-5530-4 (~$80k midpoint).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $50K
[#10] Initial laboratory analysis program and setup for sample characterization (~$50k).
Cover Operation Seed Funding $50K
[#5] One-time seed funding for the historian/cover operation, exhibitions, and initial publications (~$50k).
Legal Coverup Initial $20K
[#17] Initial legal/record-alteration/cover-up expenses (~$20k).
Initial Training $15K
[#21] One-time cultural-sensitivity and initial staff training (~$15k).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $734K/yr
Staff Wages $320K/yr
[#3] Four full-time field operations personnel (4 × ~$80k fully burdened = $320k/yr).
Cover Story And Legal $120K/yr
[#6, #17, #18, #20, #22] Ongoing cover upkeep (~$20k/yr), legal/support retainer and operations (~$30k/yr), PR/folklore management (~$15k/yr), insurance/legal defense reserve (~$50k/yr), permits/heritage coordination (~$5k/yr).
Logistics And Transport $83K/yr
[#7, #12] Staff travel/lodging and rotations (~$75k/yr) plus secure courier runs/transport logistics (~$8k/yr).
Medical Monitoring $60K/yr
[#16] Covert healthcare and periodic monitoring for affected individuals (~$40–80k/yr; midpoint $60k/yr).
Informant Stipends $40K/yr
[#4] Payments to local contacts, liaisons and cultural consultants (~$30–45k/yr; midpoint $40k/yr).
Supplies And Consumables $27K/yr
[#23, #11, #24] Local office & consumables (~$15k/yr), neutralization consumables/ash disposal (~$2k/yr), miscellaneous/petty cash (~$10k/yr).
Aerial And Satellite Surveillance $24K/yr
[#2] Imagery subscriptions (~$12k/yr) and periodic charter/drone sorties (~$12k/yr).
Research And Monitoring $20K/yr
[#10] Ongoing lab follow-ups and per-sample testing (~$15–25k/yr; midpoint $20k/yr).
Vehicle Maintenance And Fuel $13K/yr
[#8] Maintenance (~$5k/yr) and fuel/operation (~$8k/yr) for island 4×4 and RIB.
Facilities Maintenance $10K/yr
[#9, #15] Evidence storage lease/utilities (~$5k/yr) and monitoring/insurance for stabilized building (~$5k/yr).
Field Sensor Maintenance $8K/yr
[#1] Maintenance, data hosting, tamper/alarm monitoring for distributed field sensors (~$8k/yr).
Communications And It $5K/yr
[#13] Data plans, comms airtime, secure hosting and server costs (~$5k/yr).
Training Refreshers $3K/yr
[#21] Annual refresher cultural-sensitivity and operational training (~$3k/yr).
Remote Power Maintenance $1K/yr
[#14] Solar array and battery maintenance for off-grid sensors (~$1k/yr).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $734K/yr
83.0% probability / year
Normal uneventful year with routine monitoring, no major incidents.
no new instances requiring emergency response routine monitoring and scheduled activities
🚨 Minor Incident $809K/yr
15.0% probability / year +$75K vs baseline
Discovery of one or a few new instances requiring emergency neutralization, short deployments and additional lab testing.
new instance discovered localized neutralization and extra forensic testing
🚨 Political Exposure $1.1M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$350K vs baseline
Media or local authority exposure requiring intensive legal defense, major PR campaign, emergency relocations and substantial contingency drawdown.
major media attention legal challenge or official inquiry
👥 Personnel 4 total
Role Count Notes
Field Agent / MTF Agent 4 Four full-time rotating field agents (covered in staff_wages line item [#3]; 4 × ~$80k fully burdened).
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates are based on detailed analyst line items and midpoints where ranges exist, but several items contain wide ranges (e.g., contingency, stabilization, medical monitoring) and local operational variation could materially change totals.
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