← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-837 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-837
Expected annual
$536K
One-time setup
$276K
Annual recurring
$533K
Personnel
6.5
One-time setup costs are approximately $276,500 for room fit-out, instruments, initial IT/SOP/legal work and contingency; recurring annual costs are approximately $532,738 driven primarily by staff wages (security + scientific) and ongoing facility/security/IT services.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $276K
Relocation Of Conflicting Items $100K
[#13] One-time cost to relocate/segregate a co-located conflicting item (SCP-705 analog) if present; specialized transport and second containment room.
Facilities $50K
[#1] Secure single-room containment fit-out including reinforced flooring, steel door, small vault cabinet and installation.
Emergency Contingency Reserve $50K
[#14] Contingency/reserve fund for emergency response, rapid containment upgrades, contractor call-outs.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $46K
[#7, #9, #10, #15] Purchase of precision instrumentation (microbalances, stereomicroscopes, anti-static bench), initial containers/packaging, LIMS deployment, and initial SOP/training development.
Equipment $15K
[#3] Physical security hardware purchase (cameras, alarms, badge readers, key-control cabinet, tamper-evident seals, secure storage cabinet).
Legal And Cover Initial $15K
[#12] One-time legal/cover-story/settlement fees to secure discovery site and initial counsel.
$0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $533K/yr
Staff Wages $385K/yr
[#4, #5, #6] Security staffing/monitoring (contracted 24/7 coverage estimate) plus senior researcher and technician salaries and pro-rated admin/compliance time.
Misc Overhead $69K/yr
[#20] Corporate overhead, insurance, general liability and taxes (estimated at ~15% of direct recurring costs).
Facilities Maintenance $22K/yr
[#2, #3] Lease/facility overhead, utilities, routine room maintenance, and annual security hardware maintenance.
Research And Monitoring $20K/yr
[#8, #10] Non-destructive imaging/spectrometry pay-per-run budget and LIMS hosting/updates/backups.
Cover Story And Legal $10K/yr
[#12] Ongoing legal retainer, PR/cover-story management and local counsel.
Logistics And Transport $8K/yr
[#11] Budgeted secure transfer/transport costs (domestic transfers plus occasional international transfer amortized).
Training And Drills $4K/yr
[#15] Annual refresher training, SOP drills and inventory/security audits.
Health And Safety $3K/yr
[#16] Annual health checks, PPE training, first-aid/eyewash maintenance.
Calibration Qaqc $3K/yr
[#7, #18] Regular calibration and metrology services for balances, sensors, and imaging devices.
Conflict Screening $3K/yr
[#13] Annual registry checks and administrative segregation cost if no immediate relocation of conflicting items is required.
Supplies And Consumables $3K/yr
[#9, #17] Consumables replacements, containers, disposable gloves/forceps and waste handling/decon supplies disposal.
Record Archiving $2K/yr
[#19] Secure archival and off-site encrypted backups for logs, photos, and experiment data.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $533K/yr
91.5% probability / year
Normal year with routine operations, no incidents or major transfers; recurring costs only.
routine_operations no_incidents no_large_transfers
🚨 Minor Incident $558K/yr
8.0% probability / year +$25K vs baseline
Small accidental event (lab injury, minor contamination, small loss) requiring emergency response, short shutdown, minor legal work and repairs.
accidental_injury minor_containment_breach emergency_relocation
🚨 Major Breach $733K/yr
0.5% probability / year +$200K vs baseline
Significant containment event or exposure requiring relocation, major transport, legal settlements, extended investigations and possible relocation of conflicting item (SCP-705 analog).
major_containment_failure international_transport_complication relocation_of_conflicting_item
👥 Personnel 6.5 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist (Principal Investigator) 1 Senior researcher, salary ~ $140,000/yr. [#5]
Laboratory Technician / Experimentalist 1 Full-time technician to run experiments and logging, salary ~ $60,000/yr. [#5]
Security Officer / Contracted Guards 4 Contracted 24/7 coverage estimated as ~4 FTE equivalents covered by $150,000/yr security budget. [#4]
Administrative Staff / Compliance / Safety Officer (pro-rated) 0.5 Pro-rated FTE for admin, compliance, and safety oversight (~$35k/yr pro-rated). [#6]
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line items and realistic ranges, so cost structure is well scoped; uncertainty remains around the frequency/severity of breaches, whether expensive relocation of a conflicting item is required, and whether in-house imaging will be purchased versus pay-per-use.
← SCP-836 ↑ All SCPs SCP-838 →