Which Kronos machine needs a breeding blanket?

A breeding blanket wraps a reactor to make tritium from its neutrons. One Kronos machine is built around one; the other has none. Which is which matters.

The breeder (HYPERION)

HAS a breeding blanket — that is its job

The burner (Aegis/MetroVolt)

NO breeding blanket needed

Why the burner needs none

D–³He fuel is supplied, not bred

Common error

Applying 'no blanket' to the breeder

A breeding blanket is a lithium-bearing layer around a D–T reactor that catches fusion neutrons and converts them into fresh tritium. Whether a machine needs one depends entirely on its fuel — and the two Kronos machines land on opposite sides.

• The breeder deliberately has one. HYPERION exists to make fuel: it wraps its plasma in a breeding blanket and runs it at a tritium breeding ratio up to 1.8. Removing the blanket would defeat the machine's purpose.
• The burner needs none. The D–³He burner is fuelled with helium-3 and deuterium that are supplied (from the breeder's decay inventory, later from an external supply). It has little neutron flux to harvest and nothing to breed, so it carries no breeding blanket — simplifying its structure and shortening its maintenance.

So "Kronos needs no breeding blanket" is true — but only of the burner. Said of the breeder it is exactly wrong.