The Hyperion Machine at a Glance
Hyperion is a compact D-T spherical tokamak: aspect ratio 2.5, major radius 1.2 m, 9.66 MA of plasma current, and a 16.84 T peak field.
What Hyperion is
Hyperion is the breeder: a compact deuterium-tritium spherical tokamak (ST) designed as an isotope and neutron foundry rather than a power plant. Its job is to sustain a burning-relevant D-T plasma dense and hot enough to generate a strong 14 MeV neutron flux, then convert that flux into tritium, helium-3, and neutron irradiation services in a surrounding blanket.
The headline numbers
The frozen design point is a scientific gain Q_sci of 3.076 at 85.0 MW of fusion power, carried by a plasma current of 9.66 MA. The magnet system reaches a peak field of 16.84 T on the conductor and roughly 8 T on the plasma axis. The geometry is deliberately low aspect ratio: aspect ratio A of 2.5 with a major radius R0 of 1.2 m, and the plasma is shaped to negative triangularity, delta of -0.30.
- Configuration: compact D-T spherical tokamak (breeder)
- Q_sci 3.076 at 85.0 MW fusion power
- Plasma current 9.66 MA; peak field 16.84 T, ~8 T on axis
- A 2.5, R0 1.2 m, negative triangularity delta -0.30
- Products: ~4 kg/yr tritium class, ~1.97 kg/yr helium-3, 14 MeV neutrons
How to read this section
The pages in this section walk each subsystem in turn: the center stack and center post, the REBCO toroidal and poloidal field coils, the vacuum vessel and first wall, the tritium-breeding blanket, the divertor, and the neutral-beam and RF heating. Each is stated at full physics candor, including the open questions. The most important open reconciliation is tritium self-sufficiency: at a target tritium breeding ratio of 1.8 the local-versus-net balance is not yet closed, and it is flagged honestly on the pages that touch breeding.
This page describes a design and simulation study, not a built machine. Construction begins Q2 2027; first-of-a-kind first tritium is targeted near 2030.