SCP-6657 — SCP-6657 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-6657 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-6657

Expected annual

$1.9M

One-time setup

$1.9M

Annual recurring

$1.9M

Personnel

Estimated one-time setup of $1,880,000 driven by shielding, lab infrastructure and research program startup; recurring annual costs of $1,873,000 driven primarily by staff wages, outsourced instrumentation and ongoing research/compliance.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.9M

Equipment $585K

[#2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #8, #9, #17, #18] Climate/preservation cabinet, tamper sensors/CCTV, access-control hardware, radiation/EM sensor array, remote handling/robotics, optical bench and tunable sources, broadband detectors, chain-of-custody setup, and secure transport container.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $500K

[#10, #11] Materials R&D program setup and decision to rely on outsourced high-cost characterization (buy-option set to 0 here; outsourcing budget reflected in recurring research).

Facilities $430K

[#1, #6, #28] Secure containment locker/vault, lead-lined test chamber, and off-site archival vault setup.

Legal Regulatory Contingency $250K

[#29] One-time contingency reserve for potential fines, cleanup orders, lawsuits from accidental emissions.

Emergency Contingency Reserve $100K

[#20] One-time reserved contingency fund for emergency response, decontamination equipment and initial medical readiness stockpile.

Regulatory Fees And Licensing One Time $15K

[#16] Initial licensing and regulatory filing fees (radiation/export control) and related filings.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.9M/yr

Research And Monitoring $800K/yr

[#10, #11, #22] Outsourced instrument time (SEM/TEM/XRD/synchrotron), annual materials R&D program budget, and outsourced high-energy testing allocations.

Staff Wages $780K/yr

[#12, #13, #14] Salaries for scientific team (1 PI, 1 optical physicist, 2 lab technicians), radiation safety officer, and containment/ security technicians.

Cover Story And Legal $75K/yr

[#24, #30] Legal counsel/PR mitigation and ongoing public/media monitoring / info-security costs.

Third Party Audits $40K/yr

[#21] Red-team safety testing and independent radiation safety audits.

Insurance Liability $30K/yr

[#15] Specialty insurance and bonding for storage and testing of materials with potential ionizing emissions.

Facilities Maintenance $20K/yr

[#3, #5] Maintenance/calibration for tamper sensors/CCTV and radiation/EM monitoring suite (includes routine sensor calibration and alarm system maintenance).

Duplication Operations $20K/yr

[#25] Operational overhead and staff time to use SCP-038 duplicates (assumes occasional duplication operations per year).

Emergency Response Readiness $20K/yr

[#20] Ongoing readiness costs for medical contingency, KI stockpile refresh, ambulance contracts, and training.

Data Storage $15K/yr

[#23] Secure encrypted backups, high-bandwidth experiment storage and archival maintenance.

Supplies And Consumables $12K/yr

[#19] PPE, dosimeters, replacement lead aprons, glovebox consumables, solvents and routine lab consumables.

Logistics And Transport $12K/yr

[#18] Secure courier/escort and per-transport convoy costs for intersite movements (assumes a small number of secure transports per year).

Power And Hvac $12K/yr

[#26] Continuous power and HVAC costs for monitoring, climate control, and ventilated/isolated shielding rooms.

Waste Disposal $10K/yr

[#27] Hazardous and radioactive waste disposal contracts for contaminated consumables and filters.

Personnel Vetting $9K/yr

[#4] Background rechecks and clearance processing for cleared personnel (per-person recurring vetting).

Regulatory Fees And Licensing Recurring $8K/yr

[#16] Annual regulatory fees, license renewals, and periodic filings/inspections.

Chain Of Custody License $5K/yr

[#17] Software license/support fees for chain-of-custody and inventory systems.

Archival Storage Recurring $5K/yr

[#28] Annual costs for long-term off-site archival storage and redundancy.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.9M/yr

94.5% probability / year

Normal operational year with scheduled research and maintenance, no major incidents.

routine_research maintenance_and_audits

🚨 Minor Incident $2.2M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$300K vs baseline

Minor containment or experimental incident (equipment failure or small radiation leak) requiring cleanup, temporary shutdown and limited equipment replacement.

equipment_malfunction minor_radiation_release human_error

🚨 Major Breach $3.4M/yr

0.5% probability / year +$1.5M vs baseline

Significant shielding failure or experimental catastrophe causing public exposure, large cleanup, regulatory fines and prolonged program suspension.

critical_shielding_breach major_experimental_failure public_exposure

👥 Personnel 8 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist / PI	1	[#13] Senior PI leading materials/optical research (approx. $180,000/yr).
Research Scientist / Optical Physicist	1	[#13] Optical physicist responsible for experiments and instrument calibration (approx. $140,000/yr).
Lab Technician	2	[#13] Laboratory technicians to run experiments, consumables handling, and sample prep (approx. $60,000 each).
Radiation Safety Officer / Compliance	1	[#12] Full-time RSO to manage licensing, audits, training and compliance (salary ~midpoint used in recurring costs).
Containment Technician / Security Officer	3	[#14] On-site containment technicians and security staff to maintain locker, escort researchers and provide shift coverage.

📋 Confidence Notes

Many line items are well-scoped (shielding, monitoring, staffing) but cost ranges are broad and some expenses (outsourced national-lab time, contingency for accidental emissions, choice to buy vs outsource instrumentation) introduce notable uncertainty.

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