SCP-9981 — SCP-9981 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-9981 Unknown ~ medium confidence

SCP-9981

Expected annual

$4.9M

One-time setup

$3.8M

Annual recurring

$4.7M

Personnel

One-time setup is approximately $3.48M driven by site acquisition, BSL lab setup, and prototyping/installation; annual recurring costs are approximately $4.72M/yr driven by staff wages, continuous monitoring/replacement of expendable sensor arrays, biosafety operations, and contingency/reserve allocations.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $3.8M

Facilities $1.4M

[#1, #2, #15, #24] Site acquisition and land-control (#1) and site construction/hardening (#2) plus initial robust archival vault (#15) and initial geophysical/feasibility survey (#24). Estimates combined: land control (~$500k), modular site construction & hardening (~$700k), vault (~$100k), initial geophysics survey (~$150k).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $1.4M

[#7, #14, #15, #26] Initial BSL lab buildout (permanent BSL‑3 baseline chosen) and laboratory setup (#7) (~$1,000,000), archival R&D prototype runs (#14) (~$200k), etching/physical-media equipment (part of archival; #15) (~$75k), and specialized manufacturing design/prototyping for expendable sensors (#26) (~$100k).

Equipment $650K

[#3, #6, #16] Communications/power installation and UPS/generator hookup (#3) (~$50k), onsite hazardous-waste grade incinerator purchase & installation (#6) (~$300k), and vehicles/boat/drone purchase (~$300k).

Geophysics Initial Survey $150K

[#24] Initial deep/shallow geophysics and feasibility surveys (non-drilling).

Manufacturing Prototyping $100K

[#26] Specialized manufacturing/design & prototyping (separate explicit line for clarity): initial design/prototyping costs to create single-use receivers.

Permitting And Compliance One Time $50K

[#18] Environmental permitting, consulting and initial compliance studies/fees.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $4.7M/yr

Staff Wages $1.6M/yr

[#9, #10, #11, #13] Salaries for research/research leads and analysts (#9) (~$800k), security personnel for 24/7 coverage (#10) (~$400k), medical staffing (#11) (~$150k), and transcription/recordkeeping staff (#13) (~$300k).

Research And Monitoring $1.5M/yr

[#4, #7, #14, #15, #23, #24, #26] Recurring monthly replacement of expendable monitoring arrays and receivers (#4) (~$180k/yr), BSL lab staffing/maintenance and biohazard processing recurring costs (#7) (~$400k/yr), long-term archival R&D program (#14) (~$500k/yr), annual storage/protection for physical media (#15) (~$10k/yr included in R&D), continuous signal analysis & remote sensing research (#23) (~$300k/yr), geophysical monitoring (#24) (~$100k/yr), and annual manufacturing runs for single‑use sensors (#26) (~$50k/yr).

Escalation Reserve $500K/yr

[#29] Recurring escalation/emergency reserve allocation for rapid scale-up in case of expansion or multi-site events (#29).

Logistics And Transport $357K/yr

[#12, #16, #17, #21] Resupply and movement (fuel/maintenance for vehicles/boat/drone) and patrolling (#16) (~$72k/yr), witness apprehension/field operation budgets (#12) (~$150k/yr), medevac/evac standby contracts (#17) (~$75k/yr), and personnel rotation travel/lodging (#21) (~$60k/yr).

Insurance And Contingency $200K/yr

[#25] Insurance premiums, liability coverage and recurring contingency reserves (~$200k/yr).

Cover Story And Legal $150K/yr

[#19] Legal retainer, PR, cover-story maintenance and periodic payouts/hush funds (#19) (retainer ~$100k/yr + incident payouts ~$50k/yr).

Facilities Maintenance $120K/yr

[#3, #6, #18] Recurring power/generator fuel & maintenance and UPS servicing (#3) (~$30k/yr), incinerator operations/maintenance and emissions monitoring if onsite (#6) (~$30k/yr), and ongoing environmental monitoring & fees/maintenance (#18) (~$20k/yr) plus general site maintenance (~$40k/yr).

Supplies And Consumables $102K/yr

[#5, #8, #11, #13, #27, #22] PPE and decontamination consumables (#8) (~$30k/yr), monthly equipment destruction/incineration handling costs (#5) (~$12k/yr), amnestic pharmaceuticals/medical consumables (#11) (~$20k/yr), transcription/archival supplies (#13) (~$10k/yr), documentation destruction operations (#27) (~$10k/yr), and psychological support program costs (#22) (~$20k/yr).

Covert Payments $70K/yr

[#20] Covert local payments/favors to landowners, fishermen and community relations to prevent interference (#20).

Emergency Drills $40K/yr

[#28] Containment breach response planning, tabletop and field drills, and emergency stockpiles of amnestics/quarantine supplies (#28).

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $4.7M/yr

90.0% probability / year

Routine year with no major containment events; normal monitoring, monthly equipment replacement, regular staffing and planned maintenance.

regular_monthly_broadcasts no_breach_or_mass_exposure planned_staff_rotations

🚨 Minor Incident $5.0M/yr

8.0% probability / year +$250K vs baseline

Localized cluster of YAMA-related incidents requiring additional witness apprehension, amnestics, repairs, and small legal payouts; limited equipment loss.

cluster_of_witnesses localized_site_damage increased_amnestic_usage

🚨 Major Breach $14.7M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$10.0M vs baseline

Significant containment failure or expansion (mass YAMA events or site-upending), requiring mass amnesticization, emergency multi-site response, large repairs/rebuilds and major legal/PR costs.

site_upending_or_large_YAMA_event mass_witness_exposure multi-site_escalation

👥 Personnel 22 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Scientist	6	[#9] Lead researchers, signal analysts, linguists and cognitive scientists; rotations twice per year.
Security Officer / MTF Agent	8	[#10] 24/7 perimeter and site security coverage, rotation to cover shifts and rapid response.
Transcription & Records Staff	3	[#13] Transcription, ephemeral recordkeeping, and analog/physical transcription prior to device destruction.
Medical Officer	2	[#11] Medical oversight, amnestic administration and emergency medical support.
Technician / Engineer	2	[#3, #4, #16] Equipment installation, monitoring array maintenance, generator/incinerator maintenance and logistics support.
Administrative Staff	1	[#19] Site admin, legal/cover coordination and liaison duties.

📋 Confidence Notes

Analyst notes provide detailed ranges for most items, enabling mid-range estimates; however the semantodissociative nature of SCP-9981, wide cost ranges, and uncertainty about incident frequency and biosafety level selection reduce confidence from high to medium.

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