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SCP-9856 Unknown ~ medium confidence
SCP-9856
Expected annual
$714K
One-time setup
$594K
Annual recurring
$690K
Personnel
7
One-time capitalization for containment and test infrastructure is roughly $595k, driven by vault/greenhouse/construction and contingency reserves; annual recurring operations are about $690k/yr driven by specialist staff, security, monitoring, and PR/witness management.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $594K
Facilities $196K
[#2, #3, #4, #5] Construction and structural work for archival vault (climate control), secondary playback/test chamber (soundproofing, observation glazing, airlock), HEPA/insect-exclusion installation, and containment greenhouse (negative-pressure, drains). Estimates aggregated at midpoints.
Contingency Reserve $150K
[#14] Standing contingency fund for large-scale eradication, heavy-equipment rental, herbicide application, or contractor mobilization if plants escape containment.
Mobile Incinerator $80K
[#13] Optional one-time purchase of a mobile incinerator as an alternative to contracted hazardous waste disposal.
Destruction Implementation $50K
[#25] Contingent one-time cost estimate for controlled large-scale destruction (incineration at scale) if destruction is chosen.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $30K
[#10] Archival/digitization risk-mitigation setup: policy development, secure digitization hardware and secure storage vaulting for any approved digital copies.
Equipment $28K
[#1, #9, #15] Hardware and installed devices: secure locker retrofit (tamper-evident lock, alarm, biometric, fireproof insert), calibrated playback and analog equipment, and environmental monitoring rigs (cameras, sensors).
Cover Story Setup $20K
[#19] One-time legal/cover story establishment costs (shell paperwork, permits, initial legal vetting).
Audio Linguistic Analysis $15K
[#17] One-time contracted audio/linguistic expert fees for initial in-depth analysis and specialized software purchases.
Protocol Development $15K
[#23] One-time containment protocol / SOP development, tabletop exercise design, and documentation creation.
Preservation Decision $10K
[#25] One-time policy/legal review costs for long-term preservation vs destruction decision.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $690K/yr
Staff Wages $430K/yr
[#6, #7, #8, #9] Salaries and benefits: 1senior botanist, 2 lab technicians, a 3-guard security rotation, and a part-time audio/media specialist contractor (aggregated midpoints).
Public Relations And Memory Management $100K/yr
[#20] Standing program costs for incident response, witness handling, amnestic administration staffing and follow-up monitoring.
Research And Monitoring $61K/yr
[#15, #16, #17, #24] Recurring lab and monitoring costs: environmental data storage/maintenance, genetic/phytochemical analysis sampling, ongoing audio/linguistic consulting, and contracted ecological impact studies.
Insurance And Overhead $30K/yr
[#21] Facility liability insurance, audits, and institutional overhead allocated to the program.
Facilities Maintenance $15K/yr
[#2, #3, #5] Ongoing maintenance, utilities, and periodic servicing for vault, playback chamber, and greenhouse (pro-rated operations).
Biomass Disposal $14K/yr
[#13] Recurring hazardous-bio waste disposal costs (per-test incineration/autoclave/contracted disposal aggregated over expected tests).
Logistics And Transport $12K/yr
[#18] Secure transfer costs (armored/secured transport and chain-of-custody) for monthly transfers.
Supplies And Consumables $8K/yr
[#11, #12] PPE and decontamination supplies per test plus soil, pots, sterile substrate, nutrients and other consumables for routine testing.
Filtration Filters Replacement $6K/yr
[#4] Recurring replacement and maintenance for HEPA/mesh filters, insect-exclusion consumables and airflow control.
Training And Exercises $6K/yr
[#23] Annual refresher training, drills, and tabletop exercises for containment staff.
Cover Story And Legal $5K/yr
[#19] Annual costs to maintain cover story, permits, and legal/administrative upkeep.
Cassette Equipment Maintenance $2K/yr
[#9, #22] Routine maintenance for analog decks (head cleaning, belts, small parts) and minor annual upkeep for playback equipment.
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $690K/yr
93.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with approved testing cadence and no significant public exposure or containment failures.
approved_tests_only no_public_exposure standard_maintenance_and_research
🚨 Minor Incident $840K/yr
6.0% probability / year +$150K vs baseline
Limited accidental exposure or localized containment event requiring localized eradication, amnestics administration and PR/response.
accidental_playback_outside_test small_public_exposure limited_environmental_contamination
🚨 Major Breach $2.2M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$1.5M vs baseline
Uncontrolled ecological release requiring large-scale eradication, contractor mobilization, environmental remediation and long-term monitoring.
widespread_plant_spread ecological_release multi-site_remediation
👥 Personnel 7 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist / Senior Botanist 1 [#6] Senior botanist on-call to design tests, identify plants, and advise disposal.
Research Technician / Lab Tech 2 [#7] Two lab technicians to assist with testing, sample collection, and daily plant care.
Security Officer / MTF Agent 3 [#8] Three-guard rotation for on-site security and armored transfers.
Audio Engineer / Media Specialist 1 [#9] Part-time audio/media specialist contractor for calibrated playback and tape maintenance.
📋 Confidence Notes
Many line items are presented as wide ranges and containment stability is uncertain (memetic component + lethal incident in file). Capital items are reasonably well scoped but incident probabilities and scale of potential ecological remediation remain uncertain, so estimates are midpoint-based with medium confidence.
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