Controlling Both Machines: Breeder and Burner
Kronos operates two very different confinement schemes with one control philosophy, sharing tools while respecting distinct physics.
Two machines, two geometries
The Hyperion breeder is a D-T spherical tokamak: a toroidal plasma confined by strong magnetic fields, carrying 9.86 MA of current, with negative triangularity of -0.30. The Aegis and MetroVolt burner is a D-3He tandem mirror: a linear plasma confined between magnetic end plugs at 26.49 T. Their control problems are genuinely different.
What differs
- The tokamak needs shape and current-profile control and must avoid disruptions.
- The tandem mirror needs end-plug potential control and does not disrupt the same way.
- The tokamak carries a plasma current; the mirror confines by magnetic geometry and electrostatic potential.
- Their diagnostics and actuators are different.
What is shared
Both use the same control philosophy: sense, estimate the hidden state, decide, and act within a latency budget, trained against a digital twin. Both use reduced-order models for real time and surrogates where physics is too slow. The tooling and the discipline transfer even when the models do not.
Why one framework
A single control framework lets one team operate both machines and lets lessons cross between them. A state-estimation advance made for the breeder can be reused for the burner even though the underlying model changes.
Verification
Every controller for either machine is verified in simulation before touching hardware and logged in operation, feeding safety and licensing.
Honesty
Both machines are design and simulation efforts today; the control systems are being built and validated against models ahead of the hardware.