← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-8244 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-8244
Expected annual
$847K
One-time setup
$93K
Annual recurring
$837K
Personnel
4.6
One-time setup ~ $93,000 for secure storage, tamper-proof containers and research equipment; recurring baseline operations ~ $836,800/yr driven mainly by staff wages, contingency reserves, legal/PR, and overhead.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $93K
Facilities $31K
[#1, #16] Vault retrofit (environmental control, lock logging, tamper trays) and controlled-display testing area retrofit.
Equipment $20K
[#2, #3, #15] Tamper-proof individual containers, CCTV/hardware one-time costs, and air-gapped workstation hardware (one-time portion).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $13K
[#10, #17] Basic behavioral testing equipment (eye-tracking, booths, recorders) and manufacture of badge replicas/non-anomalous controls.
Sop Development $10K
[#14] One-time drafting, legal vetting and secure publication of containment SOPs.
Cover Identities Creation $10K
[#22] One-time creation/cache of cover identities, paperwork and props for retrieval operations.
Training Development $6K
[#13] One-time development of training and cognitive inoculation course materials.
Disposal Setup $3K
[#26] One-time setup costs for controlled destruction/disposal procedures (equipment/logging).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $837K/yr
Staff Wages $285K/yr
[#5, #6, #7, #23] Security team (2 guards, salaries+OT), memetic/psych research staff (partial FTE), research assistants/lab techs, and inventory/cataloguing admin FTE.
Escalation Contingency Reserve $250K/yr
[#27] Reserve for escalated misuse (public access to critical infrastructure) and large-scale response; held as contingency.
Administration Overhead $70K/yr
[#30] Allocation for utilities, HR, procurement and central overhead (20–40% typical); prorated to program scale.
Legal Contingency Reserve $50K/yr
[#21] Annual allocation to litigation/escrow reserve for potential lawsuits, subpoenas, FOIA or per-case legal costs.
Cover Story And Legal $35K/yr
[#20, #21] Public misinformation/cover-story campaigns and routine legal/retainer costs.
Rapid Retrieval Fund $30K/yr
[#19] Contingency fund for plainclothes rapid-retrieval ops (vehicles, per-diem, ad-hoc personnel time).
Research And Monitoring $22K/yr
[#8, #9] Volunteer testing budget (compensation, screening, IRB/admin) and medical/psych evaluations/follow-up.
Incident Investigation Fund $20K/yr
[#24] Annual budget for incident investigations, witness interviews and forensics.
Acquisition Fund $15K/yr
[#25] Annual budget for covert recovery, buybacks or purchases to acquire new instances.
Insurance And Indemnity $15K/yr
[#28] Liability, workers' comp and professional indemnity insurance for staff and contractors.
Advanced Imaging $10K/yr
[#11] Optional/as-used contract scanning (fMRI/MEG) budget; modest baseline allocation for occasional studies.
External Collaboration Fees $10K/yr
[#29] Fees for partner institutions, contracted tests, or publication suppression as-needed.
Logistics And Transport $6K/yr
[#18] Secure evidence transport, chain-of-custody logistics and routine transfer costs.
Training Refreshers $5K/yr
[#13] Recurring refresher training and tabletop exercises.
Video Storage And Retention $3K/yr
[#4] Secure encrypted video/log storage, off-site backups and retention costs.
Sop Review $2K/yr
[#14] Periodic SOP review and updates.
Disposal Per Event Fund $2K/yr
[#26] Per-event disposal costs (incineration/shredding) averaged annually.
Cover Identities Replenishment $2K/yr
[#22] Annual replenishment and update costs for cover identities and props.
Facilities Maintenance $1K/yr
[#1] Ongoing maintenance for vault environmental controls and minor facility upkeep.
Workstation Maintenance $1K/yr
[#15] Maintenance and secure backup costs for air-gapped workstation(s).
Controlled Display Venue $1K/yr
[#16] Recurring venue rental or simulated public-environment costs for controlled testing.
Cctv Maintenance $800/yr
[#3] Annual maintenance, auditing and storage costs for CCTV/access-logging systems.
Supplies And Consumables $600/yr
[#12] PPE and consumables (gloves, face shields, non-reflective trays).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $837K/yr
82.5% probability / year
Routine operations year with no major incidents; normal research, storage, and small-scale recoveries only.
no_public_displays routine_testing_and_acquisitions
🚨 Minor Incident $867K/yr
15.0% probability / year +$30K vs baseline
Single accidental public display or small recovery requiring retrieval, investigation and limited PR/legal response.
accidental_public_display small-scale_retrieval_and_investigation
🚨 Major Retrieval Operation $987K/yr
2.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline
More complex incident (multiple witnesses, legal subpoenas, or targeted recovery) requiring larger field operation and legal response.
coordinated_public_incident legal_subpoenas_or_media_exposure
🚨 Catastrophic Public Exposure $1.3M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$500K vs baseline
High-impact misuse or mass exposure (access to critical infrastructure, large-scale public belief spread) triggering major containment, legal and public-safety operations.
badge_used_on_critical_infrastructure widespread_media_attention
👥 Personnel 4.6 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 [#5] Two on-site guards to enforce no-display rules and escort researchers; includes overtime/training.
Research Scientist 0.75 [#6] Memetics/psychologist FTE (partial/senior mix) to run experiments and advise containment protocols.
Research Assistant / Lab Tech 1.5 [#7] Assistants for experiments, volunteer management, badge handling and data entry.
Administrative Staff 0.35 [#23] Inventory, cataloguing and archival labor (0.25–0.5 FTE equivalent).
📋 Confidence Notes
Line items and ranges are well-specified in analyst notes allowing a reasonable cost model, but probabilities of social/memetic incidents and contingency reserve sizing remain uncertain, producing medium confidence.
← SCP-8243 ↑ All SCPs SCP-8245 →