SCP-712 — SCP-712 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-712 Safe ✓ high confidence

SCP-712

Expected annual

$3.4M

One-time setup

$2.4M

Annual recurring

$3.4M

Personnel

One-time setup and capital costs are roughly $2.44M, driven by containment retrofitting and high-end optical diagnostics; recurring annual costs are about $3.35M/yr, driven primarily by dedicated research personnel, covert suppression/legal programs, security, and contingency reserves.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $2.4M

Equipment $670K

[#2, #3, #4, #5, #8, #9, #10] Optical tables, tunable light sources/lasers, spectrometers/hyperspectral cameras/detectors, precision optics stock, servers/initial storage, UPS/power conditioning, initial PPE/interlock hardware.

Legal Reserve Setup $500K

[#18] One-time legal reserve / settlements fund seed.

Facilities $400K

[#1] Secure containment chamber retrofit (optical isolation, interlocks, HVAC mods, floodlights, EMI shielding, pass-throughs).

Monitoring And Suppression Seed $300K

[#15] Initial seed/setup for monitoring & suppression program (front accounts, journal contacts, initial influence operations).

Covert Ops Legal Retainer $200K

[#16] One-time legal retainer for covert intervention capabilities.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $100K

[#6] Custom fabrication/nanofabrication/optical coating runs initial setup, cleanroom/vendor fees and initial prototyping tooling.

Decommissioning Reserve $100K

[#25] Long-term decommissioning / disposal fund reserve (one-time set-aside).

Engineering And Machine Shop Initial $50K

[#7] Precision machining, electronics lab work and initial engineering support (in-house builds / contractor setup).

Front Org Setup $50K

[#17] Setup costs for front organisations / PR (fake companies, initial registrations, conference sponsorship seeding).

Clearance And Training Setup $30K

[#22] Initial background checks and clearance costs for team.

Documentation Setup $20K

[#19] Documentation, secure archives and redaction operations initial setup.

Transportation Equipment $10K

[#20] Initial specialized packaging hardware for secure couriering of samples/equipment.

It Security Setup $10K

[#23] One-time IT security / air-gap / encryption tool setup.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $3.4M/yr

Staff Wages $1.4M/yr

[#12] Dedicated research staff payroll incl. salaries and ~30% benefits overhead (2 senior optical physicists, 2 junior researchers, 2 lab technicians, 1 engineer, 1 safety/compliance lead).

Cover Story And Legal $700K/yr

[#15, #17, #18] Ongoing monitoring/suppression programs, front-organisation PR budgets, legal retainer/settlement retainer and influence operations (itemized combination of #15, #17, #18 recurring figures).

Physical Security Staffing $270K/yr

[#13] Incremental physical security staffing, monitoring and CCTV coverage dedicated to the chamber (if not covered by base Site security).

Incident Contingency $200K/yr

[#14] Contingency fund for emergency replacement of optics, decontamination, overtime response and temporary shutdowns.

Covert Intervention Capabilities $200K/yr

[#16] Ongoing covert intervention operational costs (investigations, travel, discreet operations, legal work).

Audit And Expansion Monitoring $200K/yr

[#21] Periodic audits, oversight and preemptive monitoring of external university/partner labs to detect replication attempts.

Research And Monitoring $150K/yr

[#24] Ongoing R&D budget: experiments, replication attempts, stipends, simulations and collaborative work.

Supplies And Consumables $60K/yr

[#3, #5, #11] Regular replacement bulbs/spares, filters, adhesives, fibers, cables and other bench consumables (includes bulbs/spares noted in item #3).

Utilities And Energy $50K/yr

[#9] Increased electricity consumption for lasers, detectors, HVAC and backup power usage.

Engineering Maintenance $30K/yr

[#7] Annual engineering support, maintenance and custom builds for mounts, housings and control electronics.

Logistics And Transport $20K/yr

[#20] Annual transportation and secure couriering costs for samples/equipment.

Custom Fabrication Prototyping $20K/yr

[#6] Recurring prototyping and fabrication runs (metamaterials, coatings, vendor prototyping).

It Security $20K/yr

[#23] Ongoing IT security, penetration testing and insider-threat mitigation tools.

Data Storage And Archiving $15K/yr

[#8] Tape rotation/cloud storage/LTO archiving and secure backups for high-rate detector/video streams.

Documentation And Archives $10K/yr

[#19] Ongoing secure archival storage, redaction and classification operations.

Training And Psych Support $10K/yr

[#22] Ongoing clearances renewal costs, psychological support and counseling for staff.

Safety Training And Ppe Replacement $5K/yr

[#10] Regular laser PPE replacement, interlock testing and staff training refreshers.

Facilities Maintenance $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $3.4M/yr

95.0% probability / year

Normal year with routine operations, no major incidents; containment stable and suppression programs operating as planned.

routine_experiments scheduled_maintenance ongoing_suppression_activity

🚨 Minor Incident $3.5M/yr

4.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline

Localized experimental accident or equipment failure causing damage to optics, temporary shutdown, overtime and small-scale replacements.

equipment_failure small_containment_breach uncontrolled_sample_fluorescence

🚨 Major Breach $5.8M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$2.5M vs baseline

Significant exposure or public discovery event or large-scale containment failure requiring expensive legal action, large covert operations, major equipment replacement and possible facility remediation.

public_exposure replication_published_by_independent_lab large_scale_hardware_damage

👥 Personnel 8 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist (Senior Optical Physicist)	2	[#12] Senior researchers leading experiments and theory ($150k each salary basis included in item #12).
Research Scientist (Junior)	2	[#12] Junior researchers running day-to-day experiments ($80k each salary basis included in item #12).
Lab Technician	2	[#12] Lab technicians for experiment setup, maintenance and consumables handling ($70k each salary basis included in item #12).
Engineer / Maintenance	1	[#12] In-house engineer for mounts, electronics and alignment ($120k salary basis included in item #12).
Safety Officer / Compliance Lead	1	[#12] Safety/compliance lead for interlocks, PPE and protocol enforcement ($80k salary basis included in item #12).

📋 Confidence Notes

Analyst notes provide line-item estimates for every cost category with specific dollar figures; containment is Safe-class with well-specified operational and political/legal requirements, so cost ranges are well-defined.

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