Home · The Helium-3 Shortage
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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.

Helium-3 →Is helium-3 rare? →
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.

Live simulation
Run the engines
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Open data
Zenodo · CC BY 4.0
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How it works
The two machines
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Learn (Fusion 101)
Go deeper
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Is helium-3 rare? →Quantum computing →Lunar helium-3 →
Go deeper

The strategic case.

Why helium-3 is the primary product.

Helium-3 →
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.