SCP-5532 — SCP-5532 | Cost Breakdown

Read on SCP Wiki ↗

SCP-5532 Unknown ~ medium confidence

SCP-5532

Expected annual

$1.6M

One-time setup

$7.2M

Annual recurring

$1.4M

Personnel

One-time setup and capital purchases are dominated by a multi‑million contingency reserve and equipment/installation costs (~$7.24M). Recurring annual costs are roughly $1.38M driven primarily by staff wages, contingency top‑ups, field operations and readiness.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $7.2M

Contingency Reserve $6.2M

[#28] One-time contingency reserve fund for major escalation (recommended multi‑million reserve; chosen placement at £5,000,000).

Equipment $192K

[#6, #12, #13, #14] STF equipment & PPE kits, portable safe/evidence containers, secure data/server hardware purchases, communications hardware (SAT phones, radios, VSAT).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $188K

[#11] Specialized anomalous-monitoring instruments and bespoke scientific sensors for hume/thermal/spectral measurements (lab/lab-setup category).

Facilities $144K

[#2, #19] Field office outfitting/secure upgrades and initial environmental mitigation/stabilization work (structural/physical site work).

Vehicles Purchase $100K

[#8] Purchase and outfitting of two unmarked field 4x4s (purchase + field outfitting).

Remote Monitoring Installation $75K

[#9] Solar-powered remote monitoring towers/masts, thermal/RGB cameras and sensors installation.

Drones Purchase $69K

[#10] LiDAR/long-endurance thermal/EO drones, spares, batteries and payloads.

Decommissioning $69K

[#29] Decommissioning/site rehabilitation if anomaly neutralized (site remediation, disposal, infrastructure removal).

Vault Fitout $41K

[#26] Secure evidence vault fit-out / transfer costs (fit-out, climate control, transfer).

Land Access Acquisition $38K

[#20] Initial purchase/compensation payments to secure access or purchase small parcels controlling approaches.

Map Disposal Setup $20K

[#15] Incinerator / secure map-destruction setup and initial training/equipment for protocol.

Legal Pr Retainer $19K

[#21] One-time legal/PR retainer and initial cover-story setup fees.

Memetic Training $11K

[#23] One-time memetic/amnestic training and kit purchases for witness handling.

Scenario Development $10K

[#25] One-time development of training playbooks and scenario materials for drills.

Web Monitoring Setup $8K

[#22] Development/setup costs for automated web/mapping monitoring & takedown tooling.

Public Safety Signage $4K

[#27] Initial discreet signage, covert fencing and permit fees for legitimate closures/cover actions.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.4M/yr

Contingency Topup $375K/yr

[#28] Annual top-up to replenish contingency/reserve funds for escalation readiness.

Staff Wages $344K/yr

[#3, #4, #5] Salaries & benefits: primary anomalous researcher, backup/rotation researchers, and STF on-call regional response staffing.

Administrative Overhead $180K/yr

[#30] Administrative overhead (finance, procurement, security clearance processing, reporting, audits) estimated at ~15% of direct recurring program costs.

Logistics And Transport $125K/yr

[#8, #16] Field expedition costs and vehicle upkeep/transport (includes mission overtime/helicopter/escort assumptions aggregated under field expeditions and vehicle maintenance).

Local Security Patrols $81K/yr

[#7] Local unarmed security/guard patrols and vehicle patrols to deter public access.

Cover Story And Legal $50K/yr

[#21] Recurring legal/PR support and ongoing cover story management / FOI handling.

Web Monitoring $34K/yr

[#22] Automated web/mapping monitoring, takedown requests and remediation team time.

Aerial Surveys $25K/yr

[#17] Contracted LiDAR/thermal aerial survey flights (assumed two flights/year).

Local Office Lease $21K/yr

[#1] Lease for secure, low-profile researcher accommodation/field office in Aughton (monthly lease extrapolated to annual).

Lab Analysis $19K/yr

[#18] Accredited laboratory testing and sample analysis (soil/particulate/isotope batches).

Hosting And Licenses $14K/yr

[#13] Secure hosting, off-site backups, and software licenses for GIS/LiDAR processing and data analysis.

Research And Monitoring $12K/yr

[#11] Recurring calibration, consumables and maintenance for specialized monitoring instruments.

Vehicles Upkeep $12K/yr

[#8] Fuel, insurance and routine maintenance for field/utility vehicles.

Environmental Monitoring $12K/yr

[#19] Recurring inspections, minor repairs and monitoring for erosion, drainage, fence repairs.

Training And Drills $12K/yr

[#25] Recurring training, drills and refresher exercises for researcher, STF and security.

Communications Airtime $9K/yr

[#14] Recurring airtime and bandwidth for SAT/VSAT/cellular failover and field comms.

Medical Monitoring $9K/yr

[#24] Regular health surveillance and medevac/air ambulance insurance.

Drones Maintenance $8K/yr

[#10] Drone maintenance, spare batteries and periodic repairs.

Memetic And Witness Care $8K/yr

[#23] Amnestic agents, memetic specialist time, counselling and post-treatment medicals (assumed incidents per year).

Remote Monitoring Comms $8K/yr

[#9] Data uplink, cellular/SAT fees for remote towers and sensors.

Land Compensation $7K/yr

[#20] Ongoing stipends/compensation to landowners / neighbor NDAs.

Vault Storage $6K/yr

[#26] Recurring storage, climate control and security costs for secured evidence vault space.

Map Disposal Operation $2K/yr

[#15] Consumables and operating costs for map-disposal/incineration protocol.

Signage Replacement $2K/yr

[#27] Replacement signage, permits and small recurring public-safety expenses.

Facilities Maintenance $0/yr

[]

Supplies And Consumables $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.4M/yr

64.0% probability / year

Normal year with routine monitoring, assumed 1–2 field missions and regular maintenance; no major incidents or breaches.

no major manifestations routine monitoring only

🚨 Minor Incident $1.6M/yr

30.0% probability / year +$250K vs baseline

One or more non-catastrophic manifestations requiring additional field missions, targeted remediation, limited amnestic operations and equipment repairs.

witnessed manifestation additional field deployment targeted remediation

🚨 Major Breach $3.4M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$2.0M vs baseline

Significant manifestation causing prolonged STF deployment, heavy equipment use, major remediation and larger-scale amnestic operations.

extended manifestation infrastructure damage large-scale remediation

🚨 K Class Escalation $7.6M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$6.2M vs baseline

Catastrophic escalation (thermal/K-class indicators) requiring full contingency drawdown, mass evacuation/amnestic operations and long-term remediation.

large heat spike/structural collapse unstable manifestations mass-casualty or widespread effects

👥 Personnel 7 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist	2	[#3, #4] Primary stationed anomalous researcher plus backup/rotation coverage (FTEs combined).
Special Task Force / MTF Agent	5	[#5] STF on-call detachment (4–6 personnel; midpoint used) for field inspections and rapid response.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates are order-of-magnitude but grounded in detailed analyst line items; major uncertainty stems from the potential for rare, high-cost escalations (contingency sizing) and mission frequency assumptions.

← SCP-5531 ↑ All SCPs SCP-5533 →