Home · The Helium-3 Shortage
Topic
The helium-3 shortage, explained.
Helium-3 has been in shortage since the U.S. federal auction ended in 2009 — just as quantum computing and neutron detection are driving demand up. Kronos breeds it.
The problem
Demand up, supply flat.
01
Supply is a by-product
Terrestrial helium-3 comes almost entirely from tritium decay — no primary source at scale.
02
The 2009 cliff
The federal auction ended in 2009; the shortage has never resolved.
03
Quantum-era demand
Every dilution refrigerator and neutron detector needs it, and both markets are growing.
HYPERION breeds helium-3 independently of the tritium blanket — a domestic primary source, not a decay by-product.
Verify it yourself
Open by design.
Conceptual design and simulation study; the integrated Kronos machines are not yet built, and certain results are requirement-class. No financial figures are published on this site.