No Net-Gain Claim Before FOAK

Kronos will not claim any form of net gain from hardware before the first-of-a-kind machine is built and measured — because no machine exists yet.

The rule

Kronos makes no claim of hardware net gain — scientific or engineering — before the first-of-a-kind (FOAK) breeder (Hyperion) exists and is measured. Construction begins Q2 2027; first tritium is targeted around 2030. Until a machine produces data, every gain figure we publish is a design point from simulation, and we say so every time.

Why this rule matters

Net gain is the single most abused claim in fusion. There is a large gap between a simulated Q and a measured one, and a further gap between scientific gain and net-electric gain after recirculating power. Announcing hardware results before hardware exists would be dishonest even if the underlying model were perfect, because a model is not a measurement.

What we do say

• The breeder design point is Q_sci 3.424 in simulation — a target, not a result
• The breeder is a foundry: its product is tritium, helium-3, and neutrons, which need fusion gain, not net-electric output
• The burner (Aegis / MetroVolt) is designed toward net-electric via direct energy conversion, and that remains a design goal

When FOAK data arrive, we will state exactly what was measured, with uncertainty, and reconcile it against the design point in public — whether it confirms us or not.