The Kronos Digital Twin

A digital twin is a live, physics-faithful software model of a real machine — Kronos runs one for each of its two machines, from design through operation.

In brief

• A twin mirrors the real machine's state in software, updated from sensors in real time.
• It runs faster than real time via surrogate models, so it can predict before the machine acts.
• One twin for the breeder (Hyperion), one for the burner (Aegis / MetroVolt).
• Used for design exploration, operator training, control, and predictive maintenance.

The detail

The digital twin is where Kronos's simulation codes, machine-learning surrogates, and real-time control converge. It is not a single program but a hierarchy: high-fidelity physics for design, fast surrogates for real-time prediction, and a data-assimilation layer that keeps the twin locked to the real machine's measured state. Because both Kronos machines are still on paper today, the twins currently serve design and verification; at first-of-a-kind operation (~2030) they become the operational brain.