Burner (Aegis / MetroVolt) Readiness Gates

The gates the D-3He tandem-mirror burner must pass before it can deliver resilient power on site.

A cleaner reaction, a harder confinement problem

The burner (Aegis / MetroVolt) is a D-3He tandem-mirror generator with a 26.49 T plug, a 17 T throat, a low neutron fraction of 5.44%, and direct energy conversion. Its low neutron output is what makes it attractive for fixed defense installations (Aegis) and data centers (MetroVolt). But D-3He requires far higher performance than D-T, and the tandem-mirror confinement concept must be shown to hold at feasible conditions.

The plug is the gate

In a tandem mirror, end plugs electrostatically confine the central-cell plasma. Reaching and holding the 26.49 T plug at the plasma density the design requires is unproven; without a demonstrated magnetic well at feasible beta, the burner remains plug-gated. This is stated as an open engineering-physics question, not a solved one.

Fuel and sequence

D-3He also depends on a helium-3 supply, which the breeder helps provide. The burner follows the breeder in the program: it is a later test and demonstration, not a near-term deliverable, and no net-power claim is made for it today.