SCP-8401 — SCP-8401 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-8401 Unknown ~ medium confidence

SCP-8401

Expected annual

$1.4M

One-time setup

$2.4M

Annual recurring

$1.3M

Personnel

First-year one-time setup and contingency reserve are the largest upfront costs (~$2.42M), while ongoing annual expenditure (~$1.29M/yr) is dominated by 24/7 Rapid Recovery Unit staffing, research efforts, and legal/cover operations.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $2.4M

Emergency Contingency Reserve $2.0M

[#20] Fund reserved for catastrophic multi-appearance events, large-scale MTF mobilizations, mass amnestic operations, or rapid relocation; funded as a lump contingency.

Equipment $134K

[#1, #2, #4, #6, #7, #8, #13] Aquarium/life-support, redundant GPS trackers and installation, CCTV/tank camera system, vehicles (purchase), UAV/drones, portable capture/transport kits, and IT hardware for on-prem security.

Remote Immobilization Rnd $120K

[#11] One-time initial program costs for R&D into attraction/immobilization technologies (acoustic/olfactory dispensers, specialized hardware prototypes).

Facilities $105K

[#12, #24] Retrofit/secondary-site readiness and potential containment upgrade costs (secondary aquarium/room retrofit and higher-security small aquatic room preparation).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $50K

[#10] Initial lab buildout and scientific equipment for behavioral/trigger research and baseline experimental apparatus.

Tracking Integration $6K

[#3] One-time software integration of GPS/geofencing alerts into Site-58 monitoring console and initial setup fees.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.3M/yr

Staff Wages $500K/yr

[#5] 24/7 Rapid Recovery Unit staffing (approx. 8 fully loaded personnel with shifts/spares); primary payroll driver.

Research And Monitoring $300K/yr

[#10, #23] Ongoing research program costs (research staff, lab consumables) and data analysis/archival for movement/trigger research.

Cover Story And Legal $210K/yr

[#19, #21] Cover-story/PR/amnestic budgets plus legal/compliance and interagency liaison costs.

Veterinary Services $80K/yr

[#9] Dedicated/contracted aquatic/amphibian veterinary care, routine checks and emergency treatment budgeted annually.

Logistics And Transport $56K/yr

[#6, #7, #8, #17, #18] Vehicle operations/maintenance, drone ops/permits, capture-kit consumables, small incident travel and expected long-distance retrieval deployments averaged annually.

Remote Immobilization Rnd $40K/yr

[#11] Ongoing follow-up R&D and operational support for attraction/immobilization systems and prototypes.

Administrative Overhead $40K/yr

[#15] Administrative time, incident paperwork, inter-site coordination and recordkeeping.

Training And Drills $25K/yr

[#14] Regular field recovery drills, medical handling refreshers, and amnestic/cover procedure training.

Medical Support $15K/yr

[#22] Occupational health, counseling, insurance and post-exposure monitoring for staff.

Facilities Maintenance $10K/yr

[#12] Ongoing hosting/maintenance fees for redundant containment site space and basic facility upkeep.

Small Misc Contingency $6K/yr

[#25] Miscellaneous small spare parts and unexpected replacements.

Veterinary Emergency Contingency $5K/yr

[#9] Ad-hoc per-incident veterinary/emergency medicine expenses budgeted as an annual contingency.

It Security Maintenance $3K/yr

[#13] Ongoing maintenance for anti-spoofing, secure comms and log-archiving systems.

Gps Subscription $2K/yr

[#3] Cellular/satellite data plan and geofencing subscription for the GPS trackers.

Supplies And Consumables $1K/yr

[#16] Animal food, water treatment, replacement filters, PPE and routine consumables for husbandry.

Cctv Maintenance $600/yr

[#4] Storage, maintenance and archival for continuous tank video feeds.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.3M/yr

73.0% probability / year

Normal uneventful year with regular operations and no major incidents.

no_field_appearances_or_minor_events routine_research_and_maintenance

🚨 Minor Incident $1.3M/yr

25.0% probability / year +$25K vs baseline

One or a few field appearances requiring local recovery, small scene operations, vet care, and modest PR/amnestic action.

single_field_appearance local_scene_work small_retrieval_or_travel

🚨 Major Breach $3.8M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$2.5M vs baseline

Widespread/mass-appearance or high-casualty event requiring full MTF mobilization, mass amnestics, emergency relocation and use of contingency reserve.

mass_casualty_event multiple_simultaneous_appearances facility_containment_breach

👥 Personnel 16 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	8	[#5] RRU field teams covering 24/7 shifts (primary payroll driver included in staff_wages).
Research Scientist	3	[#10] Scientific staff studying behavior and triggers (covered in research_and_monitoring).
Technician / Lab Tech	2	[#10] Lab technicians supporting experiments and husbandry (included in research budget).
Veterinary / Medical Officer	1	[#9] On-call aquatic/amphibian specialist (contracted/dedicated).
Administrative Staff	1	[#15] Administrative support for recordkeeping and coordination (administrative_overhead).
Engineer / Maintenance	1	[#6, #7] Vehicle/drone/IT maintenance support (included in logistics and maintenance budgets).

📋 Confidence Notes

Line items and ranges were detailed, allowing mid-range estimates, but the anomalous respawning/teleportation behavior and incident frequency are uncertain, so operational costs (incident-driven) have moderate uncertainty.

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