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SCP-8887 Uncontained ~ medium confidence
SCP-8887
Expected annual
$6.0M
One-time setup
$11.1M
Annual recurring
$5.9M
Personnel
14
Initial one-time capital requirements are dominated by a potential large containment/buildout option (~$10M) and equipment/buildout (~$1.1M); ongoing annual costs (~$5.9M/yr) are driven by research personnel, continuous overnight monitoring, long-term program funding, legal/PR, and facilities overhead.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $11.1M
Worst Case Buildout $10.0M
[#27] Large-scale buildout estimate if containment requires specialized isolation wards/remote neural blockade gear (optional/contingent).
Worst Case Planning $300K
[#27] Feasibility/planning study for potential future containment/buildout.
Emergency Medical Reserve $200K
[#18] Initial emergency/medical contingency reserve for seizures, ICU care, medevac.
Equipment $125K
[#2] Purchase of high-density polysomnography/EEG system (64–256 ch). Rental alternative noted in analyst notes.
Neuromodulation Hardware $125K
[#10] Research-grade TMS/tES purchase for causal probing or prevention of access.
Compute Cluster Initial $100K
[#11] Initial high-performance compute and storage cluster purchase for multimodal neural data processing.
Facilities $75K
[#1] Soundproof, light-controlled, RF-shielded dedicated sleep/research room renovation including medical fixtures and monitoring integration.
Security Initial $70K
[#14] Initial information security/personnel vetting costs (background checks, secure badge/biometric installation).
Secure Data Storage Initial $30K
[#12] Air-gapped backups, encrypted archive setup and classified archiving infrastructure (initial).
Ambulatory Eeg Units $25K
[#4] Purchase of 2–4 mobile/ambulatory EEG units for home monitoring.
Lucid Dream Equipment $25K
[#9] Devices and protocols (audio-visual, tDCS/tACS, training program) purchase/initial setup.
Irb And Compliance Initial $25K
[#23] Initial IRB/ethics application and compliance setup costs.
Backup Power Initial $15K
[#19] UPS/generator and environmental control redundancy purchase.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $0
[]
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $5.9M/yr
Long Term Research Program $2.5M/yr
[#26] Aggregated multi-year research program budget (dedicated program funding; overlaps many recurring line items—represents program-level funding alternative/augmentation).
Staff Wages $1.5M/yr
[#5, #6] Continuous overnight staffing (sleep techs) and core research team salaries (PI, clinician, psychologist, data scientists, RAs, PM) including on-call medical retainer.
Intangible And Reputational Reserve $500K/yr
[#28] Reserve for lost grants, legal exposure, reputational damage and whistleblower litigation (annualized contingency).
Cover Story And Legal $350K/yr
[#13] Retained legal counsel, NDAs, FOIA responses, cover-story operations and liaison with authorities.
Logistics And Transport $175K/yr
[#17] Travel, field investigations, lodging, informant payments and equipment for searching SCP-8887-1.
Facilities Maintenance $150K/yr
[#21] Lab space costs, utilities, janitorial, HVAC and facility overhead for medical-grade rooms.
Research And Monitoring $150K/yr
[#3] MRI/fMRI scanner time and specialized protocols for sleep fMRI (50–200 hrs/year assumed).
Personnel Security Recurring $125K/yr
[#14] Recurring information security costs, vetting renewals, insider-risk programs and counter-surveillance.
Insurance And Liability $85K/yr
[#20] Institutional malpractice, research liability and property insurance premiums.
Compute Cloud Maintenance $60K/yr
[#11] Cloud costs or maintenance for storage/compute for EEG/fMRI and NLP processing (monthly cloud alternative).
Emergency Fund Replenishment $50K/yr
[#18] Annual replenishment of emergency/medical contingency reserves as incidents deplete funds.
Public Relations Incident Response $50K/yr
[#24] PR incident response reserve for leaks, media mitigation and misinformation operations (annualized reserve).
Replacement And Contingency Staffing $50K/yr
[#25] Recruitment, overtime and replacement costs for staff attrition and trauma-related absences.
Documentation And Transcription $40K/yr
[#15] Paying Researcher Gonzalez for dream documentation, transcription services and clerical labor.
Mental Health Support $30K/yr
[#7] Regular psychotherapy, psychiatric oversight, compensation/time off and possible long-term care for Researcher Gonzalez.
Neuromodulation Operating Costs $30K/yr
[#10] Per-session operating costs for TMS/tES (physician oversight, consumables).
Training And Drills $30K/yr
[#22] Staff training, safety protocols, biannual drills for psych emergencies and memetic/operational security.
Supplies And Consumables $18K/yr
[#8, #16] Pharmacological agents, disposables (electrode gel, adhesive, disposable sensors), per-session consumables.
Secure Data Maintenance $15K/yr
[#12] Ongoing secure archive maintenance, air-gapped backup upkeep and redaction workflows.
Irb And Compliance Renewal $10K/yr
[#23] Annual IRB renewals, compliance reporting and external ethics consultations.
Ambulatory Eeg Consumables $5K/yr
[#4] Per-use consumables for mobile/ambulatory EEG units (electrodes, adhesives).
Lucid Dream Consumables $5K/yr
[#9] Consumables and training program recurring costs for lucid-dream induction devices/protocols.
Backup Power Maintenance $3K/yr
[#19] Fuel, maintenance and service for backup power systems.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $5.9M/yr
93.5% probability / year
Normal operational year with no major incidents; ongoing monitoring, research, legal and facility costs only.
routine_research no_incidents
🚨 Minor Incident $6.2M/yr
5.0% probability / year +$300K vs baseline
Isolated medical emergency or limited data leak requiring hospital care, short-term PR/legal response and temporary staffing overtime.
medical_emergency small_data_leak short_term_PR
🚨 Major Breach $7.4M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$1.5M vs baseline
Significant incident with prolonged hospitalization, extended legal action, heavy PR, and extended research downtime/replacement staffing.
extended_hospitalization public_exposure litigation
🚨 Containment Buildout $16.2M/yr
0.5% probability / year +$10.3M vs baseline
Decision to perform worst-case buildout/containment upgrade requiring large one-time capital build plus associated operational ramp.
feasibility_shows_containment_possible policy_decision_to_build
👥 Personnel 14 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist / PI 1 [#6] Principal investigator overseeing experiments and analysis.
Clinician / Sleep Specialist 1 [#6] Clinical oversight for sleep manipulation and medical safety.
Clinical Psychologist 1 [#6] Psychological assessment and therapeutic oversight for subject.
Data Scientist 2 [#6, #11] Neural data processing, AI/NLP analysis and model development.
Research Assistant 2 [#6, #15] Experiment support, transcription assistance and dream-logging facilitation.
Project Manager / Coordinator 1 [#6] Program management, scheduling and liaison duties.
Sleep Technician 2 [#5] Two trained sleep technicians on-site per overnight shift (number on duty at a time).
Medical Officer / Nurse (on-call) 1 [#5] On-call medical retainer for emergencies during REM manipulation.
Administrative Staff / Transcription 1 [#15] Clerical support for documentation and dream transcription.
Engineer / Maintenance 1 [#19, #11] Equipment maintenance, backup power and environmental control support.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 1 [#14] Physical and OPSEC security for the facility and sensitive data handling.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line-item ranges for most categories (staffing, imaging, equipment), but several items (long-term program funding, worst-case buildout, reputational/opportunity costs) are highly uncertain and can overlap other line items; medium confidence reflects reasonably well-defined operational costs but significant tail risks.
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