Why not just build one D–T machine like everyone else?

A single D–T machine must solve net electricity before it has anything to sell, and puts most of its energy into neutrons it then has to convert thermally. Kronos's split lets the breeder sell fuel and isotopes early, and the burner make electricity cleanly by direct conversion. Different bet, different risk profile.

Both still face hard physics; Kronos claims a better arrangement of it, not an escape from it.