← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-6697 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-6697
Expected annual
$196K
One-time setup
$229K
Annual recurring
$192K
Personnel
4
Initial one-time setup and reserves are modest-to-moderate (~$229k) driven by legal/OPSEC reserve and equipment/fit-out; ongoing annual costs (~$192k/yr) are dominated by research staffing, archival cybersecurity, and recurring preservation.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $229K
Pr Opsec Reserve $125K
[#17] PR/OPSEC incident contingency reserve (reserved fund, not typically spent).
Equipment $42K
[#2, #3, #6, #7, #8, #14] Archival cabinet, digitization/restoration hardware & software, secure transport kit, CCTV/alarm integration, initial LTO drive + starter tapes, emergency response kit.
Facilities $20K
[#1, #4] Secure containment locker and small secure AV room fit-out (purchase + installation and soundproof/Faraday fit-out).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $18K
[#9] Forensic/material analysis & anomaly testing project budget (non-destructive imaging, specialist subcontracting).
Legal And Cover Story Setup $12K
[#15] Initial legal/cover-story preparation, records management setup and falsified acquisition paperwork budget.
Training And Sop Development $6K
[#12] SOP drafting and initial training / Ethics Committee compliance setup.
Per Additional Instance Reserve $4K
[#16] Contingency per additional recovered instance (digitization, sleeves, cataloguing) - budgeted for one potential additional instance.
Long Term Preservation Planning $2K
[#18] Initial long-term preservation planning and migration schedule setup.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $192K/yr
Staff Wages $160K/yr
[#10] Ongoing research staffing (fractional PI, research techs, graduate stipends, part-time sysadmin/support).
Archival Cybersecurity $7K/yr
[#8] Ongoing secure storage, sysadmin support, encrypted archiving, integrity checks and air-gapped backup maintenance.
Cover Story And Legal $6K/yr
[#15] Ongoing legal counsel, cover-story maintenance, and records management upkeep.
Training And Sop Refresh $5K/yr
[#12] Annual SOP refreshes, training refreshers, and Ethics Committee time.
Facilities Maintenance $4K/yr
[#2, #7, #13] Incremental HVAC/energy for archival cabinet, CCTV/upkeep and marginal Site-59 utilities/maintenance allocation.
Media Migration $4K/yr
[#18] Averaged annual cost for periodic media migration and integrity checks.
Per Viewing Operations $2K/yr
[#5] Operational cost for authorized viewings (assumes ~2 viewings/yr at ~$900/view: security, researcher, clerk, travel/incidentals).
Supplies And Consumables $2K/yr
[#3, #11] Digitization consumables (heads/tape cleaners) and handling/preservation consumables (gloves, sleeves, silica gel, RH strips).
Emergency Drills $1K/yr
[#14] Drill refreshers and minor consumables for emergency response exercises.
Logistics And Transport $800/yr
[#6] Per-move labor/fuel for secure transfers (estimated low-frequency moves per year).
Additional Instance Recurring Per Instance $500/yr
[#16] Incremental annual storage/monitoring per additional recovered instance (per-instance recurring cost).
Research And Monitoring $0/yr
[]
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $192K/yr
84.0% probability / year
Normal uneventful year with routine preservation, occasional viewings, and ongoing research staffing; no major incidents or new recoveries.
routine archival operations scheduled preservation and training occasional authorized viewings
🚨 Minor Incident $217K/yr
5.0% probability / year +$25K vs baseline
Small accidental anomalous activation or handling incident requiring containment response, short-term forensic follow-up, and limited PR/legal work.
accidental exposure during viewing localized containment response limited forensic and legal follow-up
🚨 Major Opsec Breach $392K/yr
1.0% probability / year +$200K vs baseline
Significant public exposure or legal incident requiring full PR/OPSEC fund deployment, extensive legal action, and possible amnestic operations.
public exposure of anomalous content legal challenges or civil discovery large-scale PR/containment effort
🚨 Additional Instance Recovery $196K/yr
10.0% probability / year +$4K vs baseline
Recovery of an additional cassette from the series requiring one-time digitization/archival and initial characterization.
discovery of another tape need for digitization and cataloguing
👥 Personnel 4 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist (PI, fractional) 1 0.25 FTE PI funded as part of research staffing [#10].
Research Technician 1 Hands-on digitization and preservation operator included in research staffing [#10, #3].
IT / Sysadmin (part-time) 1 Part-time sysadmin for archival cybersecurity and backups [#8].
Administrative Staff / Records Clerk 1 Administrative support for cataloguing, ethics committee coordination, and documentation (not the per-viewing clerk paid per-event) [#12, #15].
📋 Confidence Notes
Estimates are based on analyst ranges and typical Site-59 marginal costing; many line items (viewing frequency, discovery of new instances, and OPSEC events) are uncertain, so figures are mid-range approximations rather than precise quotes.
← SCP-6696 ↑ All SCPs SCP-6698 →