SCP-972 — SCP-972 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-972 Euclid ~ medium confidence

SCP-972

Expected annual

$935K

One-time setup

$3.2M

Annual recurring

$880K

Personnel

Estimated one-time capital of $3,157,000 driven mainly by containment upgrades, equipment, a recommended contingency reserve and optional high-containment build; recurring baseline operations are approximately $880,000/year driven by personnel, research, and overhead.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $3.2M

Bsl Upgrade $1.2M

[#10] Optional on-site high-containment upgrade (BSL-3 chosen mid-range estimate). BSL-4 not included in baseline.

Contingency Reserve $1.0M

[#24] Recommended liquid reserve equal to ~1 year of operations for emergency escalation / replacement of major systems.

Equipment $548K

[#2, #3, #4, #11, #12, #13] HVAC capex and HEPA systems; autoclave and decon shower capital; initial sets of Class V suits; core specialized laboratory equipment (qPCR, biosafety cabinets, centrifuges, cryo setup hardware included); initial secure data system setup.

Autopsy Suite Upgrade $175K

[#22] One-time upgrade to permit secure autopsy/post-mortem under BSL-3 precautions if not already present.

Emergency Vehicle $90K

[#15] Standby/emergency transport vehicle retrofit for rapid response and secure transfers.

Facilities $75K

[#1] Standard humanoid containment chamber construction/refurbishment (cell, antechamber, observation, plumbing penetrations).

Cover Story Initial $8K

[#20] Initial establishment of cover identities, paperwork, and legal setup.

Subject Furnishing One Time $6K

[#18] One-time approved furnishings and initial amenities replacement.

Training Initial $5K

[#14] Initial certification and suit training for personnel group.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $0

[]

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $880K/yr

Staff Wages $375K/yr

[#7] Caretaker/technician, shift security coverage (3 guards), senior researcher and minimal admin coverage (salaries and benefits).

Research And Monitoring $162K/yr

[#9, #13] Annual controlled research program (virology, sequencing, functional studies) and secure data hosting/IT support for research records.

Miscellaneous Overhead $100K/yr

[#25] Administrative overhead, procurement, inter-department charges and internal insurance allocation (~15-25% of operating budget).

Facilities Maintenance $41K/yr

[#2, #3, #11] HVAC maintenance and filter replacements, decon/autoclave validation and servicing, equipment service contracts.

Medical Monitoring $40K/yr

[#8] Routine medical exams, staff testing (PCR/serology), and on-call infectious-disease physician access.

Supplies And Consumables $27K/yr

[#4, #5, #6, #18] PPE consumables and replacement cartridges, disinfectants, disposables, and contracted biohazard waste disposal (annual).

Logistics And Transport $20K/yr

[#16] Budgeted annual cost for occasional secure transfers (short-distance or one mid-range transfer equivalence).

Cover Story And Legal $20K/yr

[#20] Ongoing legal counsel, payroll front-companies, record maintenance and cover-story upkeep.

Utilities And Energy $20K/yr

[#17] Incremental electricity, water and HVAC energy costs for continuous containment systems.

Outsourced High Containment Fees $20K/yr

[#10] Occasional outsourcing of experiments to certified high-containment facilities (per-experiment fees annualized).

Regulatory And Biosecurity Audits $15K/yr

[#21] External/internal biosafety audits, environmental monitoring, and compliance consulting fees.

Psychological Care $15K/yr

[#19] Mental health services for SCP-972 and staff (counselling, therapy, enrichment programs).

Training And Drills $13K/yr

[#14, #15] Annual refresher training under SOP-89B, and periodic emergency drills/readiness exercises.

Cryo Ln2 Refill $6K/yr

[#12] Liquid nitrogen refills and maintenance for cryogenic/sample storage and biobanking.

Autopsy Per Event $5K/yr

[#22] Consumables and standby team funding to support occasional secure autopsy/post-mortem events (annualized contingency).

Specialized Assays $0/yr

[#23] Optional high-cost anomaly research programs (200k+/yr). Not funded in baseline posture.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $880K/yr

88.0% probability / year

Moderate posture, no on-site BSL-4 build, routine research and monitoring; normal year with no major incidents.

routine_research normal_operations no_incident

🚨 Minor Incident $1.0M/yr

10.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline

Limited containment breach or infectious incident requiring emergency response, repairs, extra disposables, temporary outsourcing and increased testing.

localized_breach increased_testing emergency_replacement_of_PPE

🚨 Major Breach $2.9M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$2.0M vs baseline

Significant containment failure or anomalous escalation requiring relocation, major equipment replacement, large-scale decontamination, and accelerated research response.

large_scale_breach emergency_relocation major_infrastructure_replacement

👥 Personnel 6 total

Role	Count	Notes
Caretaker/Technician	1	On-site caretaker for daily interaction and specimen care; salary included in staff_wages. [#7]
Security Officer / MTF Agent	3	Round-the-clock coverage across shifts (3 guards), salaries included in staff_wages. [#7]
Research Scientist	1	Senior researcher overseeing requests and experiments (e.g., Dr. Louef equivalent), salary included in staff_wages. [#7]
Administrative Staff	1	Admin/cover-story payroll handling and logistics support, included in staff_wages. [#7, #20]

📋 Confidence Notes

Notes and article provide fairly detailed line items for containment, PPE, and research but key drivers (choice of on-site BSL upgrades vs outsourcing, scale of research programs, and infrequent incident rates) remain discretionary, producing moderate confidence in baseline estimates.

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