SCP-626 — SCP-626 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-626 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-626

Expected annual

$770K

One-time setup

$1.7M

Annual recurring

$736K

Personnel

One-time setup is dominated by a memetic-defense suite, robotic handling gear, and a contingency reserve (~$1.67M total one-time). Recurring annual costs (~$735.5k/yr) are driven by high-clearance staffing, medical/amnestic programs, cybersecurity, legal/cover-story retainers, and ongoing maintenance/monitoring.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.7M

Contingency Reserve $1.0M

[#23] Recommended contingency/reserve fund for large-scale containment failure / mass exposure response (one-time reserve allocation).

Memetic Defense Initial $125K

[#3] Hardware/software and procedural memetic controls, secure workstations, filtered imaging feeds (initial acquisition/integration).

Manipulator Robot $125K

[#4] Secure telemanipulator / robotic arm purchase and integration for remote handling.

Reactivation One Time $125K

[#20] Cost to reactivate suspended research later (staff rehiring, new protocols) as a one-time reactivation reserve.

Containment Redundancy Kit $88K

[#14] Emergency transport case, powered seal, emergency inert gas fill, and explosive/chemical countermeasure equipment (initial purchase).

Cybersecurity Initial $62K

[#12] Initial IT/DLP access-control, bespoke memetic filters, auditing systems setup.

Equipment $40K

[#1] Opaque, tamper‑proof containment lockbox (mechanical lockbox, tamper sensors, inner cradle).

Facilities $30K

[#2] Retrofit or dedicated HVIS bay integration (double-door bay, badge interlocks, environmental control): assumed retrofit-level cost.

Surveillance Hardware $25K

[#11] Non-visual environmental logging hardware, tamper detection, air-gapped/encrypted storage hardware (initial purchase).

Training Initial $25K

[#13] SOP development and initial training for handling, amnestic protocols, and memetic containment.

Data Archive Initial $25K

[#19] Secure analogue/paper archive infrastructure and on-site controlled archival setup (initial).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $0

[]

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $736K/yr

Staff Wages $250K/yr

[#6] Highly restricted access staffing premium: 2containment techs (~$80k each) + 2 guards (~$45k each).

Opportunity Holding Cost $62K/yr

[#20] Annual holding/reservation cost for suspended research slot.

Miscellaneous Overhead $62K/yr

[#24] Proportional site utilities, oversight, auditing and accounting allocation.

Cover Story And Legal $50K/yr

[#18] Legal counsel, cover-story maintenance retainer and limited PR contingencies (annual retainer assumed).

Catastrophic Response Planning $50K/yr

[#23] Recurring planning, stockpiling and coordination costs for large-scale escalation response.

Medical Response Standby $35K/yr

[#7] On-call medics/ambulance/medevac standby contract (annual).

Cybersecurity Recurring $32K/yr

[#12] Ongoing IT/DLP, monitoring, and bespoke memetic filters maintenance.

Memetic Defense Maintenance $30K/yr

[#3] Annual maintenance, updates and certification for memetic defense hardware/software.

Training Refresher $20K/yr

[#13] Annual refresher training, drills, and SOP updates for containment and amnestic procedures.

Recruitment And Replacement $19K/yr

[#21] Recruiting, background checks and training costs averaged for 1–2 hires/yr contingency.

Supplies And Consumables $18K/yr

[#9] PPE, disposable instruments, decon supplies for handling events (assumes ~50 events/yr at midpoint costs).

Amnestic Program $16K/yr

[#5] Drug procurement, administration, training and monitoring; assumes ~10 contingency doses/yr plus monitoring.

Psych Followup $15K/yr

[#17] Psychiatric care, counseling and medical follow-up for exposed staff and amnestic side effects.

Research And Monitoring $12K/yr

[#10] Periodic containment inspection, certification activities, and test equipment.

Manipulator Maintenance $12K/yr

[#4] Annual maintenance, calibration and integration costs for robotic handling hardware.

Wastewater Monitoring $10K/yr

[#16] Environmental testing and monitoring for contaminated wipes/filters and periodic testing.

Logistics And Transport $9K/yr

[#15] Secure transfer cost (per-move $5k–$30k); assumed average 0.5 moves/yr at midpoint.

Autopsy And Disposal $6K/yr

[#8] Autopsy, tissue handling and hazardous disposal averaged per year (assumes ~1 average incident/year).

Data Archive Recurring $6K/yr

[#19] Ongoing restricted-archive upkeep and analogue fallback maintenance.

Facilities Maintenance $5K/yr

[#2] Ongoing vault / HVIS bay maintenance and minor retrofit upkeep.

Surveillance Storage And Audit $5K/yr

[#11] Secure (air-gapped/encrypted) storage, archival audits and periodic hardware upkeep for non-visual logs.

Containment Redundancy Replacement $5K/yr

[#14] Replacement parts, periodic drills, and consumables for emergency sealing/transport kit.

Energy Operating Costs $3K/yr

[#22] Vault HVAC, dehumidification, and powered security systems energy costs.

Medical Incident Avg $2K/yr

[#7] Average annualized acute-care incident costs (small expected incident rate baked into recurring estimate).

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $736K/yr

79.5% probability / year

Normal uneventful year with routine maintenance, staffing, inspections, and occasional handling events; no major exposure or public knowledge.

routine_handling scheduled_inspection no_breach

🚨 Minor Incident $786K/yr

20.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline

Single on-site exposure or containment-adjacent incident requiring medical care, extra autopsy/disposal, limited PR/legal engagement, and additional containment work.

single_staff_exposure equipment_malfunction localized_release

🚨 Catastrophic Breach $5.7M/yr

0.5% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline

Widespread knowledge dissemination or mass-exposure event requiring mass amnestic deployment, large-scale medical/hospital response, and major legal/PR operations.

public_exposure mass_knowledge_dissemination large_scale_breach

👥 Personnel 4 total

Role	Count	Notes
Containment Technician	2	[$#6] Two technicians at premium clearance pay (~$80k/yr each) responsible for daily vault operations and handling oversight.
Security Officer / MTF Agent	2	[$#6] Two guards/security staff (~$45k/yr each) assigned for HVIS access control and physical security.

📋 Confidence Notes

Notes provide detailed line-item ranges for most costs, but many items (incident rates, contingency magnitude, frequency of moves, and catastrophic exposure scale) are highly uncertain; midpoints and assumptions were used for averaging.

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