← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-8272 Unknown ~ medium confidence
SCP-8272
Expected annual
$622K
One-time setup
$1.4M
Annual recurring
$609K
Personnel
3
First-year (one-time setup + one year operations) infrastructure and reserves dominate costs (~$1.43M one-time), while steady-state annual costs are driven by personnel, insurance/legal/cover-story, and research/monitoring (~$609k/year). Major cost drivers are personnel wages, catastrophe reserves/insurance, research instrumentation, and contingency funds.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.4M
Catastrophic Reserve $500K
[#14] One-time catastrophic reserve / single-event fund for major accidental damage, legal settlement avoidance, or off-site repair/cover.
Facilities $300K
[#13, #15] Emergency/structural contingency reserve initial allocation and land/access control / recovery-site securing purchase/leases.
Contingency Reserve $285K
[#25] Program-level contingency / risk premium (approx. 25% of initial program costs) to cover thaumaturgical unknowns and supply-chain escalation.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $132K
[#9, #11] Geophysical monitoring instrumentation kit and one-time lab analysis / materials testing (dendrochronology, radiocarbon, X-ray CT, spectroscopy).
Decommissioning Plan $75K
[#23] Planning and initial engineering/legal approvals for long-term sequestration / decommissioning / deep-vaulting options.
Dedicated Transport Vehicle $65K
[#8] Optional dedicated armored/secure transport vehicle purchase for regular outside-site deployments.
Equipment $34K
[#1, #3, #22, #18] Secure storage locker and integration, ruggedized transport/containment case, communications equipment, and initial-classified data/storage hardware.
Authorized Access And Sop Development $25K
[#4] Development of SOPs, authorization workflows, training curriculum, legal review, and digital logging systems (one-time development costs).
Training Initial $9K
[#17] Initial authorized-operator training and certification for core staff.
Climate Pest Setup $500
[#2] Initial climate control / pest-preservation setup (desiccants, humidity monitor, conservation baseline).
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $609K/yr
Staff Wages $250K/yr
[#5, #6] Salaries, benefits, and hazard premiums for 2 dedicated security custodians (~$100k) and 1 senior thaumaturgical researcher (~$150k).
Cover Story And Legal $170K/yr
[#14, #16, #24] Annual insurance/liability premiums, legal/compliance retainers and administration, and expected post-incident PR/cover-story execution budget.
Research And Monitoring $74K/yr
[#9, #10, #12, #18] Instrument calibrations/maintenance, short-term instrument rentals/projects, controlled activation experiment series budget, and recurring data storage/software licensing.
Emergency Fund Replenishment $50K/yr
[#13] Annual replenishment allocation to maintain the emergency/structural contingency reserve after draws for repairs or mitigation.
Logistics And Transport $20K/yr
[#7] Field deployment team travel/per diem/vehicle/shipments and per-deployment operational costs (assumes multiple small deployments per year).
Incident Investigation $20K/yr
[#19] Expected per-year budgeting for forensic/incident investigation activities (on-call teams, lab tests, outside consultants).
Facilities Maintenance $13K/yr
[#2, #8, #15] Climate/pest preservation ongoing checks, dedicated vehicle maintenance/operations, and site/land monitoring costs.
Security Clearances $4K/yr
[#21] Recurring clearance renewals and turnover-related vetting costs for staff permitted to handle SCP-8272.
Training And Certification $3K/yr
[#17] Annual refresher courses and drills for authorized operators and security (refresher cost per staff aggregated).
Supplies And Consumables $2K/yr
[#20] PPE, consumables, batteries, replacement sensors, decon supplies, and small field ritual materials.
Communications Service $2K/yr
[#22] Recurring secure communications service, radios, and maintenance for field ops.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $609K/yr
89.0% probability / year
Normal year with routine operations, scheduled research, and no major incidents or public exposure.
routine research and monitoring scheduled deployments no misuse or public exposure
🚨 Minor Incident $634K/yr
8.0% probability / year +$25K vs baseline
Localized misuse or accidental activation causing minor ground shifts or localized structural damage requiring repairs and limited PR/legal work.
small unauthorized activation localized structural damage limited public exposure / small FOIA inquiry
🚨 Major Breach $1.4M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$750K vs baseline
Significant misuse or accidental activation producing substantial geological effects requiring large-scale emergency response, major repairs, legal settlements, and possible off-site cover expenses.
misuse causing extended geological events structural collapse or off-site damage major public exposure requiring settlements
🚨 Research Scale Up $809K/yr
2.0% probability / year +$200K vs baseline
Planned research breakthrough or operational decision triggers scale-up of monitoring and experimentation (expanded instrumentation, additional staff, larger field programs).
new experimental program funded expansion of field campaigns
👥 Personnel 3 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 [#5] Two dedicated guards or an on-call security custodian to control access and escort field ops; salaries/benefits included in staff_wages.
Research Scientist 1 [#6] One senior thaumaturgical researcher/occult-science specialist to supervise experiments and authorize use; salary included in staff_wages.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide multiple explicit line-item ranges, enabling reasonable estimates, but several items (catastrophic reserve, contingency, frequency of deployments/incidents) have wide ranges and policy choices; therefore uncertainty remains moderate.
← SCP-8271 ↑ All SCPs SCP-8273 →