SCP-7145 — SCP-7145 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-7145 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-7145

Expected annual

$848K

One-time setup

$616K

Annual recurring

$779K

Personnel

Initial setup and one-time risk provisioning dominate first-year costs (~$616k), while recurring expenses are driven by research staff wages, data/monitoring, and legal/compliance overhead (~$779k/yr). Optional high-security escalation could raise annual costs dramatically.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $616K

Initial Contingency Reserve $250K

[#13] Recommended initial risk mitigation / contingency reserve (institutional recommended minimum).

Scenario Analysis One Time $150K

[#25] One-time funding for low-probability/high-impact scenario analysis (selected midpoint of $50k–$250k).

Intellectual Property Legal Review $58K

[#18] One-time IP/legal review fee (midpoint of $15k–$100k).

Cover Story Buyback One Time $50K

[#14] One-time cover story / buy-back / NDAs budget (selected conservatively within $10k–$200k).

Human Subjects Compliance Setup $48K

[#6] One-time setup for IRB-style protocols, legal memos, and compliance documentation (midpoint of $20k–$75k).

Equipment $40K

[#1, #2, #3, #7, #10] Allocated hardware and systems: evidence locker + access control and installation (#1), environmental sensors and small UPS (#2), dedicated camera/tamper protections (#3), multi-person auth hardware/software (#7), and encrypted server/hardening hardware portion of data management setup (#10). Estimates are midpoints of provided ranges.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $15K

[#9] Instrumentation and small isolated testing booth (high-speed cameras for die capture, precise clocks, small scale, insulated testing booth). Estimate is midpoint of provided instrumentation/buildout range.

Decontamination And Disposal Planning $6K

[#21] One-time formal disposal/neutralization planning and documentation (midpoint of $1k–$10k).

Replacement Control Samples One Time $275

[#20] Initial purchase/creation of non-anomalous control 8-ball stock (range $50–$500).

Facilities $0

[]

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $779K/yr

Staff Wages $499K/yr

[#4, #5] Personnel salaries/benefits: 1custodian/technician (total comp ~$89k) and small research team (PI + 2 juniors; total comp ~$410k). Figures are mid-range totals including benefits.

Research And Monitoring $119K/yr

[#3, #9, #10, #11, #12, #17, #23, #24] Ongoing experiment support and monitoring: video storage (~$1,300/yr), instrumentation calibration (~$2,000/yr), data hosting/encrypted backups and audits (~$6,000/yr), subject recruitment/compensation (~$30,000/yr), longitudinal verification follow-ups (~$60,000/yr), contracted red-team/external audits (~$50,000/yr included as part of research monitoring budget), publication/controlled peer-review (~$15,000/yr), and archival storage (~$5,000/yr). (Entries combined into research/monitoring to reflect operational overlap.)

Cover Story And Legal $68K/yr

[#6, #14, #18, #19] Ongoing legal/PR/insurance: IRB/legal administration retainer (~$20k/yr), cover-story monitoring and leak response (~$15k/yr), IP/regulatory retainer (~$15k/yr), and commercial liability insurance (~$17.5k/yr).

Red Team And External Audits $50K/yr

[#17] Periodic contracted red-team / misuse analysis / econometric modeling (~$50k/yr chosen within $20k–$150k).

Contingency Reserve Replenishment $25K/yr

[#13] Annual replenishment to maintain contingency reserve for legal/containment rapid actions (partial replenishment; institution may vary).

Psychological Support $9K/yr

[#22] Employee assistance and counseling resources (~$9k/yr within $3k–$15k).

Logistics And Transport $5K/yr

[#15] Secure courier / insured transit for occasional moves or field tests (~$5,000/yr assumed for occasional relocations).

Supplies And Consumables $3K/yr

[#8, #20] Consumables for experiments and routine maintenance (gloves, seals, replacement alcohol, tamper bags) (~$2,750/yr) and occasional replenishment of control samples (~$100/yr).

Facilities Maintenance $2K/yr

[#1, #2, #7] Annual maintenance/calibration and support: evidence locker calibration/maintenance (~$200/yr), environmental monitor connection/monitoring fees (~$300/yr), and authorization software/support/license (~$1,250/yr).

Rapid Response Unit $0/yr

[#16] Optional on-call rapid-response team (estimated $500k–$2M/yr if maintained). Set to $0 here as not part of baseline staffing; included as scenario/upgrade instead.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $779K/yr

86.5% probability / year

Normal uneventful year with small research program, monitoring, and routine maintenance but no major incidents or escalations.

routine_research no_breaches standard_legal_compliance

🚨 Minor Incident $804K/yr

8.0% probability / year +$25K vs baseline

Small legal or operational incident (e.g., inadvertent leak, minor research injury, small lawsuit) requiring investigation, overtime, and modest legal/PR spending.

minor_data_leak small_legal_claim localized_containment_event

🚨 Major Breach $1.4M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$600K vs baseline

Significant containment/operational breach or legally complex incident requiring emergency response, external contractors, major legal defense, and increased containment actions.

containment_breach serious_legal_action multi-site_response

🚨 Political Exposure $5.8M/yr

0.5% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline

Public/political exposure or market-impact event from misuse of SCP results necessitating national-level coordination, heavy PR, legal settlements, and possibly government engagement.

media_exposure market_manipulation election_related_influence

🚨 Research Breakthrough Requiring Scale Up $1.8M/yr

3.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline

A research result or verified capability that requires rapid program scale-up (expanded lab space, additional staff, legal/IP action, larger verification campaigns).

verified_predictive_capability commercialization_pressure regulatory_scrutiny

👥 Personnel 4 total

Role	Count	Notes
Principal Investigator / Research Scientist	1	[#5] Senior PI (compensation and benefits included in recurring research staff budget; represents the ~$175k/yr figure listed).
Researcher / Technician (junior)	2	[#5] Two junior researchers/technicians combined (headcount and combined compensation included in recurring research staff budget; total junior staff portion included in $410k research staff estimate).
Custodian / Technician (custody & access)	1	[#4] Single trained custodian/technician responsible for handling, inventory, and routine checks (~$89k total comp included in staff wages).

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates are midpoints of the provided analyst ranges and combine well-documented recurring staff costs with judgeable selections for variable items (data hosting, longitudinal follow-ups). Uncertainty remains for low-probability/high-impact escalation costs and for institutional policy choices (whether to maintain rapid-response unit), hence medium confidence.

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