SCP-849 — SCP-849 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-849 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-849

Expected annual

$1.9M

One-time setup

$922K

Annual recurring

$1.9M

Personnel

First-year costs are driven by containment construction, monitoring equipment, and research start-up; recurring costs are dominated by 24/7 security wages, an on-site psychologist, and an active research/monitoring program.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $922K

Facilities $280K

[#1, #2] Sealed 5m x 5m containment chamber retrofit/construction and floor reinforcement/mounting platform; includes labor, permits and site modifications.

Equipment $254K

[#3, #4, #5, #7, #14, #15, #21] Monitoring/instrumentation, HVAC install, liquid containment systems, security hardware, access control hardware, incident-response kit, initial PPE.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $170K

[#12, #13] Initial chemical/biological characterization and research start-up instrumentation for controlled testing.

Contingency Seed $150K

[#22] Contingency / capital replacement seed (recommended 10–25% of first-year budget).

Transport Initial $30K

[#16] Initial recovery/transport heavy-equipment costs (crane/truck, field personnel, sedation/standoff).

Cover Story Initial $15K

[#17] Initial cover/recovery public-relations and legal costs for plausible explanation and records redaction.

Medical Supplies Initial $12K

[#10] Initial emergency medical equipment and drug stock (sedatives, basic life-support).

Security Training Initial $10K

[#8] One-time specialized security training/background checks per initial cohort.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.9M/yr

Staff Wages $1.0M/yr

[#6, #9, #10] Security staffing (12 FTEs at ~$50k + 30% benefits = ~$780k), one senior site psychologist (~$180k), and on-site medical allocation (~$50k).

Research And Monitoring $441K/yr

[#3, #5, #12, #13, #20] Monitoring/calibration (~$6k), liquid sampling/disposal (~$15k), lab testing (~$60k), active research program operations excluding per-session costs (~$350k), and data storage/incident logging (~$10k).

Contingency Replenish $125K/yr

[#22] Annual replenishment of contingency/capital replacement reserve (approx. 10–25% guidance).

Administrative Overhead $100K/yr

[#23] Pro-rated site utilities, insurance, finance, HR and general admin support allocated to SCP-849.

Per Session Operational $50K/yr

[#18] Per-use operational costs (screening, monitoring, documentation) estimated for moderate usage frequency.

Cover Story And Legal $30K/yr

[#17] Ongoing PR, legal counsel, records management and routine cover-story upkeep.

Incident Response And Drills $30K/yr

[#15] Annual drills, rapid-response kit replenishment and readiness team costs.

Ethical And Oversight $30K/yr

[#24] Institutional review, human-subjects oversight and audit costs for scheduled exposure research.

Facilities Maintenance $24K/yr

[#1, #4, #11] HVAC energy/maintenance (~$6k) plus routine containment inspections/minor repairs (~$17.5k).

Psychological Aftercare $20K/yr

[#19] Aftercare and longer-term therapy allocation for unauthorized entrants or traumatized subjects.

Supplies And Consumables $11K/yr

[#7, #21] Security consumables (radios, uniform replacements) and recurring PPE/decon supplies.

Logistics And Transport $10K/yr

[#16] Occasional relocation / transport costs (crane/truck hire, personnel) averaged per year.

Security Training And Clearance $10K/yr

[#8] Ongoing refresher training, background checks and clearance maintenance.

Access Control Maintenance $4K/yr

[#14] Software maintenance and updates for biometric/authorization systems.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.9M/yr

94.5% probability / year

Normal year with no major incidents; routine research and periodic authorized sessions.

no_incidents scheduled_research routine_maintenance

🚨 Minor Incident $2.0M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline

Small containment leak or localized equipment failure requiring cleanup, temporary medical/psych support and modest repairs.

minor_leak equipment_failure localized_health_event

🚨 Major Breach $3.4M/yr

0.5% probability / year +$1.5M vs baseline

Significant containment failure requiring chamber rebuild, major hazardous-waste remediation, extended medical/psychological care and legal/PR response.

catastrophic_leak major_structural_failure extended_public_exposure

👥 Personnel 14 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	12	[#6] Continuous two-on-site coverage requiring ~12 FTEs to staff shifts, vacations and training.
Site Psychologist	1	[#9] One full-time senior psychologist for scheduled visits, aftercare and crisis intervention.
Medical Officer	1	[#10] On-call medic allocation for screening and emergency response.

📋 Confidence Notes

Analyst notes provide detailed line-item ranges for almost every cost, allowing reasonable midpoint estimates, but many items have wide ranges and site-dependent variance (local wages, existing infrastructure), so overall confidence is medium.

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