Comparing the Breeder and Burner in the Model
Viewing Hyperion and the burner side by side shows how differently two fusion machines can be built for different jobs.
Two answers to one problem
Placing Hyperion and the burner side by side in the model is the fastest way to understand that fusion is not one machine but a family of designs. Both confine hot plasma with magnetic fields, yet almost everything else about them differs because they are built for different jobs: one breeds tritium, the other generates power with minimal neutrons.
Geometry
- Hyperion is a compact torus dominated by a central stack; the burner is a long straight axis.
- Hyperion confines on nested toroidal surfaces; the burner confines between mirror plugs along a line.
- Hyperion wraps a thick breeding blanket; the burner keeps thin shielding and open ends for direct conversion.
Fuel and neutrons
Hyperion burns deuterium-tritium, which is easier to ignite but neutron-heavy, so it needs a thick blanket that turns those neutrons into bred tritium at a breeding ratio of 1.8. The burner burns deuterium-helium-3, which is harder to ignite but keeps neutrons to 5.44 percent, so it can convert charged particles directly instead of breeding.
Fields
Both push high-temperature REBCO magnets hard, but differently: Hyperion peaks at 16.84 T on its toroidal-field conductor with 8 T on axis, while the burner reaches 26.49 T in its plugs and 17 T at the throats. The shared conductor technology reaching two different extremes is one of the clearest lessons of the side-by-side view.
How to compare
Load both machines and use the shared scale reference to compare their true proportions. See the breeder overview and the burner overview, and the REBCO magnet model they share.