What will fusion electricity cost?

The honest answer is a set of levers, not a headline number. Kronos names what moves the cost most — and refuses to quote a price that would depend on a market that doesn't exist yet.

Breeder cost driver

Availability, then capital structure

Burner cost driver

Helium-3 price (future)

Single headline price?

No — deliberately

What is frozen

The levers, not the absolute margin

It is tempting to quote one number, but for fusion that number hides everything that matters. Kronos breaks it down by machine. The breeder's cost of energy is set mostly by how often it runs (availability) and by capital structure — and on its frozen structural capital at central availability, the breeder is economic even at market tritium prices.

The burner is different: its cost is dominated by the price of helium-3, which today trades at scarcity levels. So its economics are stated as a fuel gate — it becomes competitive when abundant helium-3 (plausibly lunar) arrives — rather than as a present-day price.