SCP-8972 — SCP-8972 | Cost Breakdown

Read on SCP Wiki ↗

SCP-8972 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-8972

Expected annual

$1.5M

One-time setup

$2.5M

Annual recurring

$1.4M

Personnel

Estimated one-time startup costs are approximately $2.54M driven by facility retrofits, secure archival systems, transport/vehicle modification and contingency reserves; recurring annual costs are roughly $1.45M dominated by staff wages, cybersecurity/DLP and response retainers.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $2.5M

Contingency Reserve One Time $1.1M

[#20] Contingency reserve for catastrophic leak or large-scale litigation/recontainment campaigns.

Facilities $325K

[#1] Secure humanoid containment cell upgrade: structural hardening, one-way observation, tamper-proof locks, access logging.

Controlled Research Transfer One Time $275K

[#19] Controlled research transfer / initial sanitized-licensing costs for selective external use.

Legal Cover Incident Reserve One Time $250K

[#13] Legal/PR major-incident reserve (initial set-aside for potential incident response).

Camera Installation $138K

[#3] Camera/recording system development + installation: forced real-time blurring, non-persistent storage, access logging and multi-person approval controls.

Secure Media Vault $125K

[#4] Secure media vault / air-gapped archive & manual redaction workstation: physical vault, air-gapped servers, manual redaction tools, tamper seals.

Transport Vehicle One Time $105K

[#10] Transport and transfer vehicle acquisition and privacy modifications (armored/modified van).

Equipment $60K

[#2] Face-concealment system (primary + spares): biocompatible tamper-resistant hoods/helmets, maintenance-ready design.

Background Investigation Initial $39K

[#6] Background investigation and clearance processing (initial batch for ~6 staff).

Energy Backup Systems One Time $35K

[#17] One-time backup systems: UPS/generator and backup power systems for critical camera/lock infrastructure.

Initial Training And Sops $30K

[#7] Training, SOP development and Ethics compliance initial costs.

Device Media Controls One Time $30K

[#9] Device & media controls initial: device lockers, detectors, inspection scanners and tooling.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $0

[]

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.4M/yr

Staff Wages $700K/yr

[#5] Dedicated personnel salaries & benefits (Site Lead, guards, psychologist, medical officer, tech; includes benefits/overtime).

Breach Recontainment Retainer $162K/yr

[#12] Annual retainer and readiness costs for contracted rapid-response/recontainment team (plus per-mission costs when invoked).

Cybersecurity Dlp $125K/yr

[#8] Cybersecurity and DLP licences, monitoring, incident response retainer to prevent exfiltration of facial data.

Medical Contingency And Oncall $125K/yr

[#11] Medical readiness & emergency countermeasures budget (on-call sedation, supplies, approved behavioral/chemical treatments contingency).

Cover Story And Legal $112K/yr

[#13] Legal counsel, PR/cover-story retainer and ongoing leak mitigation support.

Controlled Research Oversight $62K/yr

[#19] Ongoing oversight and licensing audits for sanitized transfer/licensing arrangements.

Oversight Audits $30K/yr

[#15] Ongoing oversight, audits, Ethics Committee administration and external reviews.

Documentation Redaction $25K/yr

[#18] Labor for manual redaction, archival compliance and chained-custody auditing of any allowed materials.

Psychological Monitoring $22K/yr

[#14] Ongoing psychiatric evaluations and therapy for SCP-8972 to detect manipulation attempts and stabilize personality.

Logistics And Transport $12K/yr

[#10] Transport and transfer operations and vehicle maintenance.

Camera Maintenance And Software Support $12K/yr

[#3] Ongoing maintenance/licenses/updates for forced-blur CCTV and non-persistent storage systems.

Secure Media Ops $12K/yr

[#4] Operations for secure media vault / air-gapped archive and manual redaction workstation.

Training Sops Recurring $12K/yr

[#7] Recurring training, SOP refreshers, Ethics Committee review cycles and drills.

Background Reinvestigation $12K/yr

[#6] Periodic reinvestigation and ongoing monitoring (~$1k–3k per person/yr for ~6 staff).

Energy And Environmental $8K/yr

[#17] Power and environmental control ongoing costs (HVAC, filtration, UPS upkeep).

Device Media Controls Ops $6K/yr

[#9] Ongoing operations for device/media inspection, locker upkeep, and audits.

Supplies And Consumables $6K/yr

[#16] Consumables, PPE and small equipment: disposable face coverings, gloves, batteries, spare parts.

Facilities Maintenance $0/yr

[]

Research And Monitoring $0/yr

[]

Contingency Top Up $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.4M/yr

94.0% probability / year

Normal uneventful year with standard operations, staffing, maintenance and retainers.

no_unauthorized_exposure routine_operations standard_maintenance

🚨 Minor Incident $1.6M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline

Localized unauthorized viewing or small leak requiring retainer response, limited medical/legal action and internal investigation.

unauthorized_viewing_by_single_person localized_exposure limited_leak_containment

🚨 Major Leak $3.9M/yr

1.0% probability / year +$2.5M vs baseline

Widespread leak or uncontrolled distribution of unaltered image(s) requiring large-scale legal defense, mass remediation/amnestics and extended recontainment campaigns.

public_image_leak mass_distribution_of_unaltered_image large-scale_litigation

👥 Personnel 7 total

Role	Count	Notes
Site Lead / Executive Staff	1	[#5] Senior site lead with 4/8972 clearance; salary portion included in staff_wages.
Security Officer / MTF Agent	3	[#5] 2–4 guards suggested in notes; median of 3 used for budgeting and shift coverage; wages included in staff_wages.
Research Scientist / Psychologist	1	[#5] Psychologist/psychiatrist dedicated to SCP-8972; salary included in staff_wages.
Medical Officer	1	[#5] Medical officer/nurse for on-site readiness and emergency interventions; salary included in staff_wages.
Engineer / Technical Support	1	[#5] Technical support for camera systems, vaults and IT controls; salary included in staff_wages.

📋 Confidence Notes

Analyst notes provide detailed line-item ranges; figures above use mid-range estimates and conservative assumptions. Remaining uncertainty centers on breach probabilities, size of potential legal settlements, and per-incident medical/remediation costs.

← SCP-8971 ↑ All SCPs SCP-8973 →