← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-7501 Pending ~ medium confidence
SCP-7501
Expected annual
$1.2M
One-time setup
$7.3M
Annual recurring
$1.1M
Personnel
7
Initial capital (BSL-3 retrofit, contingency, and specialized one-time items) dominates costs (~$7.2M), while annual operations (personnel, research, security, and overhead) run about $1.15M/year; transport/orbital recovery or major breaches can add millions in a single year.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $7.3M
Orbital Retrieval Estimate $5.0M
[#12] Orbital retrieval (conditional) — lower bound used ($5,000,000) of the $5M–$100M+ range to represent a recover/retrieval year.
Facilities $1.0M
[#1] BSL-3 capable room retrofit: HEPA/negative-pressure HVAC, airtight seals, autoclave pass-through, monitored access control, engineering, certification and inspections. Midpoint chosen from $500k–$1.5M.
Ocean Salvage Estimate $500K
[#12] Ocean salvage conditional estimate (range $100k–$1M used a moderate figure).
Specialized Containment Contingency $250K
[#9] Initial contingency fund for specialized upgrades (Faraday cages, shielding, memetic filters) as recommended (~$250k).
Contingency Reserve $150K
[#25] General contingency reserve (10–30% guidance); moderate reserve chosen to cover unforeseen scale-ups.
Equipment $109K
[#2, #6, #11, #13, #23, #14, #8] Includes secure animal cage/life-support (~$10k), security hardware/CCTV upgrade (~$25k), secure server setup (~$10k), UPS/battery reserve (~$12k), monitoring system setup (~$30k), initial PPE & training setup (~$10k), and biobanking setup (~$12k).
Containment Breach Reserve Setup $100K
[#17] One-time setup/reserve for rapid-response equipment and initial readiness ($50k–$250k); midpoint chosen.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $50K
[#7] Initial diagnostic battery and lab setup (whole-genome sequencing, pathogen screens, histopathology, toxicology) — midpoint of $10k–$50k plus lab readiness costs.
Cover Story Initial $50K
[#16] Initial cover-story / PR / misinformation handling contingency (range $10k–$200k; conservative mid-sized plan chosen).
Decontamination Per Turnover $25K
[#20] Deep decontamination/fumigation/certification per turnover (range $5k–$50k; midpoint used).
Permits Initial $20K
[#15] Initial legal/regulatory permitting and counsel (range $5k–$50k; midpoint used).
Transport Recovery Terrestrial $15K
[#12] Terrestrial/ground/air transport/recovery small mission estimate (~$3k–$30k); midpoint used.
Emergency Veterinary Stabilization $8K
[#3] Short-term emergency veterinary treatment/stabilization for critically ill specimen (range $2k–$15k; midpoint used).
Necropsy Per Event $3K
[#8] Necropsy by pathologist and initial sample processing (~$1k–$5k).
Euthanasia Per Event $2K
[#24] Humane euthanasia per event (anesthetic, vet services, disposal) estimated midpoint $500–$3k.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.1M/yr
Research And Monitoring $414K/yr
[#7, #18, #23, #8, #11] Follow-up targeted testing (~$50k–$200k), long-term research program (~$200k–$400k), monitoring maintenance/calibration, biobanking storage, and data hosting/IT support.
Staff Wages $305K/yr
[#5] Direct salaries (PI $150k, lab tech $70k, animal tech $50k, vet 0.2 FTE $25k, biosafety officer 0.1 FTE $10k) = ~$305k/yr.
Administrative Overhead $225K/yr
[#21] Institutional overhead/indirects (budgeting guidance 25–40% of direct recurring costs; representative mid-range applied).
Security Personnel And Operations $120K/yr
[#6] Two overnight Level-2-trained guards (2 × $45k = $90k + benefits/overhead ≈ $120k/yr).
Emergency Readiness Annual $20K/yr
[#17] Annual readiness, rapid-response training, consumables and small reserve (~$10k–$50k/yr).
Insurance And Liability $20K/yr
[#19] Enhanced biological hazard and liability insurance (~$5k–$50k/yr; moderate level chosen).
Cover Story And Legal $15K/yr
[#15, #16] Permit renewals/legal compliance and conditional PR/cover-story ongoing costs (permits $2k–$10k/yr, cover-up $5k–$50k/yr).
Supplies And Consumables $14K/yr
[#4, #10, #14] Quarantine consumables (food, bedding, PPE), biohazard disposal, and annual PPE replenishment/training (~$1.2k–$3.6k, $2k–$10k, $2k–$10k respectively); combined estimate.
Power And Environmental Operations $8K/yr
[#13] Incremental electricity/HVAC costs for containment suite ($2k–$15k/yr) and environmental control.
Ethical Review And Relations $6K/yr
[#22] IACUC/ethics board, community liaison, reporting costs (~$2k–$20k/yr).
Facilities Maintenance $0/yr
[]
Logistics And Transport $0/yr
[]
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.1M/yr
81.0% probability / year
Normal year with containment and ongoing research; no major incidents or extraordinary recovery missions.
stable containment routine research no recovery or breach events
🚨 Minor Incident $1.2M/yr
15.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Isolated animal death or minor containment event requiring necropsy, decontamination turnover, and extra diagnostics.
animal death/necropsy localized decontamination additional targeted testing
🚨 Major Breach $2.1M/yr
3.0% probability / year +$1.0M vs baseline
Significant containment breach or discovery of hazardous anomalous properties requiring large upgrades, extended emergency response, and PR/legal actions.
containment breach hazardous anomalous property discovered major decontamination and upgrades
🚨 Orbital Retrieval $6.1M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$5.0M vs baseline
High-cost recovery operation (orbital retrieval) required to secure specimen or debris — single-year heavy capital outlay.
specimen located in orbit decision to perform dedicated retrieval international/contracted launch costs
👥 Personnel 7 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist / PI 1 Senior researcher leading study (salary $150k/yr).
Research Laboratory Technician 1 Dedicated lab technician for assays and sample prep (salary $70k/yr).
Animal Technician 1 Daily husbandry and animal care (salary $50k/yr).
Veterinarian (part-time) 1 Onsite veterinarian at ~0.2 FTE accounted as $25k/yr.
Biosafety Officer (on-call) 1 On-call biosafety oversight (~0.1 FTE, $10k/yr).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 Two overnight guards (costs included under security personnel operations).
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line items and ranges, enabling a moderate-confidence estimate. Uncertainty remains high around conditional events (specialized anomalies, ocean/orbital recovery or discovery of dangerous properties) which can change costs by orders of magnitude.
← SCP-7500 ↑ All SCPs SCP-7502 →