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SCP-991 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-991
Expected annual
$2.0M
One-time setup
$2.5M
Annual recurring
$1.9M
Personnel
20
One-time capital/setup costs are moderate-to-high (~$2.4M) driven by containment hardware, a dedicated phlebotomy suite, servers, spare hardware, vehicle purchase, legal remediation and an initial contingency reserve. Recurring annual costs are estimated at about $1.905M/yr with main drivers being research staffing, D-class management, per-session operations, contingency maintenance, and crisis readiness.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $2.5M
Initial Contingency Reserve $1.0M
[#22] Initial insurance/contingency reserve fund for worst-case outcomes, litigation, or expensive incident response.
Equipment $380K
[#1, #10, #11, #18] Custom sealed containment case with sensors/locks (#1), EEG system (#10), initial secure server/encryption hardware (#11), and redundant spare containment/handling tools (#18).
Initial Legal Coverup $300K
[#13] One-time costs to remediate the original recovery site, buy records/settle, and establish initial cover-story/settlement payments.
Facilities $275K
[#2] Construction/modification of a dedicated phlebotomy/injection suite (HVAC, laminar flow, CCTV, isolation cell, furniture, adjacency work).
Armored Transfer Vehicle $225K
[#21] One-time acquisition of an armored/secure transfer vehicle for site-to-site movement if facility lacks adequate transport capability.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $200K
[#25] Initial experimental fund and research lab buildout for risky/special experiments (vacuum rigs, molecular detection prototypes) and basic research instrumentation.
Redundant Hardware And Spares $100K
[#18] Backup containment case, spare sterile tools, manipulators and test rigs (separate from primary equipment line).
Training Program Development $35K
[#17] One-time development of operator training, memetic hygiene curricula, certification materials and related program setup.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $1.9M/yr
Research And Monitoring $500K/yr
[#7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #25] Research program salaries and lab costs, donor cognitive monitoring, autopsy/histology sequencing budget, periodic neuroimaging access (fMRI hourly usage budgeted here), secure data storage recurring costs, and recurring risky-experiment allocations.
D Class Management $350K/yr
[#6] Procurement, housing, food, monitoring and site overhead for a rotating D-class pool (e.g., ~10 active donors) including security and medical overhead.
Staff Wages $300K/yr
[#4, #5, #23] Nurse/med tech (1.0 FTE), part-time physician oversight, assigned site security wages and a small fraction of senior staff time (administrative/Class-4 opportunity cost pro-rated into wages).
Crisis Response Readiness $150K/yr
[#14] Maintain on-call rapid-response capability (medical + tactical), medevac readiness, training and overtime reserves.
Per Session Operations $100K/yr
[#19, #5] Recurring operational costs directly tied to interrogation/test sessions (overtime for med staff/security, D-class session overhead, recording & amnestic administration) averaged annually.
Long Term Staff Health Reserve $100K/yr
[#20] Reserve for long-term health care, psychiatric treatment, disability pay or compensation for affected Foundation personnel.
Recurring Contingency Reserve Maintenance $100K/yr
[#22] Annual funding to maintain/refresh the contingency reserve (insurance-like budget line).
Cover Story And Legal $75K/yr
[#13] Ongoing cover-maintenance, public affairs, limited settlements, and legal budget for quiet remediation and plausible deniability.
Logistics And Transport $50K/yr
[#21] Per-transfer operational costs (armored escort, planning, staff/time) averaged as an annual line item.
Facilities Maintenance $40K/yr
[#2] HVAC, laminar flow servicing, CCTV maintenance, room cleaning and general upkeep for the phlebotomy suite and containment area.
Amnestics And Memetic Countermeasures $40K/yr
[#12] Annual program costs for amnestic stockpile, trained administration staff, training and routine monitoring.
Audit And Compliance $40K/yr
[#24] Internal ethical review board, audits, and compliance staffing/time for periodic reviews and policy enforcement.
Supplies And Consumables $20K/yr
[#3] Baseline medical consumables and sterile supplies (gloves, gowns, disinfectants, sharps containers) outside per-session budget.
Sharps And Biohazard Disposal $15K/yr
[#15] Annual hazardous waste disposal contracts for contaminated needles, tissues and PPE.
Euthanasia And Protocols $15K/yr
[#16] Budget for euthanasia drugs, medical/veterinary time and associated documentation/autopsy prep averaged annually.
Training And Certification $10K/yr
[#17] Annual re-certification and per-operator training costs (refresher courses, memetic hygiene drills).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $1.9M/yr
90.0% probability / year
Normal operational year with routine testing and ongoing research at planned intensity, no major incidents.
scheduled testing planned research activities no containment incidents
🚨 Minor Incident $2.1M/yr
8.0% probability / year +$200K vs baseline
Localized incident (medical emergency, recipient psychotic break, minor contamination) requiring extra medical care, amnestics, incident investigations, and limited legal/PR actions.
recipient psychotic break donor acute medical failure limited accidental exposure
🚨 Major Breach $3.9M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$2.0M vs baseline
Significant containment breach or high-profile exposure requiring full incident response: large contingency drawdown, replacement hardware, extended litigation, mass amnestic operations, and expanded research/cleanup.
containment breach with exposure legal/political exposure widespread memetic incident
👥 Personnel 20 total
Role Count Notes
Research Scientist 2 [#9] Full-time researchers to lead neuroscience/memetics studies and experimental design (1–3 recommended).
Research Technician / Lab Tech 1 [#8, #9] Technician support for autopsies, histology, sample processing and lab experiments.
Nurse / Med Tech 1 [#4] 1.0 FTE on-call clinical staff to perform phlebotomy and immediate medical care during procedures.
Physician / Medical Officer 1 [#4] Part-time/on-call physician oversight for procedures and donor/recipient emergencies (pro-rated salary).
Security Officer / MTF Agent 2 [#5] Assigned armed guards for containment and escort during testing (minimum 2 assigned full-time as per notes).
Administrative Staff / Class-4 Liaison 1 [#23] Administrative/Class-4 approval coordination, authorizations and recordkeeping time (small FTE but counted as 1 head).
Engineer / Maintenance 1 [#2, #11] Responsible for HVAC/laminar flow maintenance, CCTV and server upkeep for the suite and containment area.
Audit / Compliance Officer 1 [#24] Responsible for ethical review board coordination, compliance audits and policy reviews.
D-class Personnel (active donors) 10 [#6, #19] Rotating active D-class donors used for interrogation/research; headcount reflects active pool, not hires.
📋 Confidence Notes
Analyst notes provide detailed line items and ranges, enabling a reasoned budget, but uncertainty remains around testing frequency, fMRI purchase vs rental, donor turnover, and the anomalous properties that prevent direct analysis — these factors make annual costs somewhat uncertain.
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