SCP-863 — SCP-863 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-863 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-863

Expected annual

$3.1M

One-time setup

$6.1M

Annual recurring

$3.1M

Personnel

Initial capital outlay is approximately $5.95M driven by enclosure construction, contingencies and emergency reserves; recurring annual costs are approximately $3.07M/yr dominated by 24/7 specialized security payroll and ongoing research/operational support.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $6.1M

Catastrophic Incident Contingency $3.0M

[#27] Reserve for catastrophic incidents / legal settlements / large-scale remediation ($1M–$10M; mid/high reserve).

Containment Upgrades Contingency $1.0M

[#22] Contingency reserve for enlargement or rebuild if specimens grow beyond expected capacity ($500k–$5M; conservative reserve).

Facilities $735K

[#1, #3, #16, #17] Containment enclosure buildouts ($600k), corrosion-resistant finishes ($40k), UPS/generator installation ($60k) and HVAC/environmental control installation ($35k).

Equipment $645K

[#2, #4, #5, #11, #18, #21, #24] Life-support systems initial build ($110k), underwater robotic arm purchase ($350k), high-res CCTV/sensor initial ($55k), cadaver refrigerators/freezers ($60k), specialized transport crates ($30k), data servers ($20k), initial spare stock ($20k).

Decommission And Specimen Disposal $200K

[#26] Long-term archiving / specimen disposal and decontamination if containment ends (~$50k–$500k; mid estimate).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $150K

[#9] Specialized research equipment (microscopes, electrophysiology rigs, etc.) initial purchase estimated at ~$150k.

Medical Incident Reserve $150K

[#15] One-time immediate incident reserve for serious injury/medical events ($50k–$250k; mid estimate used).

Cadaver Storage And Refrigeration Setup $60K

[#11] Initial chilled-room/freezer and handling equipment estimate (~$25k–$100k; mid estimate).

Security Training And Ppe $54K

[#7] Initial anomalous handling and PPE procurement / initial training for ~27 guards (~$2k/guard).

Transport Crates And Specialized Crating $30K

[#18] Heavy-duty transport tanks/crates for specimens (~$10k–$50k).

Containment Breach Equipment $20K

[#14] Initial purchase of remote tranquilization/neutralization tools, nets, emergency sluice hardware (~$5k–$30k; mid estimate).

Initial Spares Stock $20K

[#24] Initial spare pumps, motors, seals and robotic arm spares (~$10k–$30k).

Data Logging It Initial $20K

[#21] Initial servers and IT setup for video/sensor logging (~$10k–$30k).

Initial Capital Summary $0

[#29] Analyst summary of initial capital (used for reference; detailed above).

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $3.1M/yr

Staff Wages $2.2M/yr

[#6, #8, #9] Security payroll for ~27 guards (~$1.69M), 3 aquarists + 1 veterinarian (~$300k), researcher salaries portion (~$200k).

Research And Monitoring $175K/yr

[#9, #5, #21] Ongoing research consumables, electrophysiology consumables, experiments and monitoring program (~$175k/yr).

Field Eradication $150K/yr

[#19] Rapid-response field teams, travel, small-boat/ATV support and eradication operations (~$60k–$240k/yr; mid estimate).

Facilities Maintenance $105K/yr

[#16, #17, #23] Facilities maintenance, utilities-related upkeep excluding power/fuel (HVAC maintenance ~$5k, staff facilities/catering/upkeep ~$40k, general facility maintenance/protection ~$60k).

Cover Story And Legal $100K/yr

[#20] Legal fees, permits, interagency liaison and cover-story management (~$50k–$200k/yr; mid estimate).

Medical Insurance And Compensation $60K/yr

[#15] Annual insurance premiums / workers' compensation budget (~$20k–$100k/yr).

Replacement Limb Procurement $50K/yr

[#10] Annual cost for licensed animal cadaver procurement (budgeted mid-range $20k–$150k/yr).

Robotic Arm Maintenance $35K/yr

[#4] Annual maintenance, calibration and service contracts for underwater robotic arm (~$20k–$50k/yr).

Logistics And Transport $30K/yr

[#18] Vehicle/fleet maintenance and operations for specialized transport (~$10k–$50k/yr; mid estimate).

Biohazard Waste $30K/yr

[#12] Contracted biohazard disposal and manifests (~$10k–$50k/yr).

Spares And Maintenance Contracts $30K/yr

[#24] Annual spare parts replacement and preventative maintenance contracts (~$10k–$50k/yr).

Cctv And Monitoring $25K/yr

[#5] Data storage, monitoring ops and retention for video/sensor data (~$10k–$40k/yr; mid estimate).

Ethics Oversight $20K/yr

[#25] Internal review boards and compliance oversight (~$10k–$30k/yr).

Security Training And Ppe $14K/yr

[#7] Annual refresher training and PPE replacement (~$500/guard/yr for 27 guards).

Decontamination And Cleaning Supplies $12K/yr

[#13] Saline-safe disinfectants, gloves, replacement filter media and cleaning consumables (~$5k–$20k/yr).

Generator Fuel $12K/yr

[#16] Fuel contracts for backup generator (~$5k–$20k/yr).

Life Support Consumables $10K/yr

[#2] Replacement filter media, cartridge replacements and salt mixes for life-support (~$5k–$15k/yr; mid estimate).

It And Data Storage $10K/yr

[#21] Ongoing IT support, backups and cybersecurity for logged anomalous data (~$5k–$20k/yr).

Containment Drills And Training $6K/yr

[#14] Ongoing drills, training replacements and equipment replacement budget (~$3k–$10k/yr).

Cadaver Storage Maintenance $3K/yr

[#11] Electricity and maintenance for refrigeration / cold storage (~$2k–$5k/yr).

Supplies And Consumables $0/yr

[]

Recurring Budget Summary $0/yr

[#28] Analyst summary of recurring budget (reference; detailed items listed separately).

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $3.1M/yr

91.0% probability / year

Normal operational year with no major incidents; routine maintenance, staffing and scheduled research.

no_breach scheduled_maintenance routine_research

🚨 Minor Incident $3.2M/yr

8.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline

Localized containment incident or medical injury requiring emergency response, limited legal/outreach costs and temporary repairs.

minor_breach_or_escape staff_injury_requiring_evacs limited_legal_action

🚨 Major Breach $5.6M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$2.5M vs baseline

Significant containment breach or public incident leading to large emergency response, decontamination, legal settlements and possible rebuilds.

large_escape civilian_injury_or_fatality facility_damage_and_rebuild

👥 Personnel 33 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	27	[#6] 24/7 coverage: 27guard positions to cover 1+2+6 per-specimen staffing with shifts/backups.
Aquarist	3	[#8] Full-time aquarists for tank maintenance and water chemistry.
Veterinarian	1	[#8] Veterinarian experienced with crustaceans and trauma.
Research Scientist / Technician	2	[#9] 1–2 researchers/techs for neuroscience/ethology experiments (salaries budgeted in staff_wages).

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates derive from detailed analyst line items for staffing, life-support, robotics and contingencies, but remain medium confidence due to redacted/specimen-growth uncertainty and potential for wide-cost variance in legal/contingency outcomes.

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