Ignition vs Driven Operation

An igniting plasma sustains itself; a driven one needs continuous heating. Kronos designs to a driven operating point and says so plainly.

Ignition

Fusion self-heating sustains the burn (Q → ∞)

Driven

Continuous external heating required

Kronos posture

Driven — no ignition claim

Why it's fine

A driven plant can still be strongly net-positive

A fusion plasma can operate in two fundamentally different regimes. In an igniting plasma, the energy from fusion self-heating is enough to keep the plasma hot indefinitely with no external input — the holy grail, but hard and potentially harder to control. In a driven plasma, external heating runs continuously to sustain the burn.

Kronos MetroVolt is explicitly a driven machine, and the design series makes no ignition claim. That is a feature of its honesty, not a weakness: a driven plant with strong gain and efficient conversion is still strongly net-positive, and a driven burn is easier to control and turn off — which is part of the safety case.