Design-and-Simulation Status
Hyperion is a design-and-simulation study, not a built machine; construction begins Q2 2027 and no hardware net-gain is claimed before first tritium near 2030.
Where the machine stands
Everything described in this section is the specification and modeling of a machine that has not yet been built. The numbers, Q_sci 3.076, 85.0 MW, 9.66 MA, 16.84 T peak, aspect ratio 2.5, negative triangularity delta -0.30, are the frozen design point and the results of physics and engineering simulation, not measurements from operating hardware.
The honest gates
Several first-order questions remain open and are stated plainly rather than smoothed over. Confinement in the spherical-tokamak regime must be confirmed at Hyperion's parameters. Tritium self-sufficiency is unproven: at the target breeding ratio of 1.8 the local-versus-net reconciliation is not closed. The center post has a limited lifetime, on the order of 0.01 fpy, driven by minimal inboard shielding. These are the machine's real gates, and they define what the first-of-a-kind build must demonstrate.
What comes next
Construction of the first-of-a-kind machine begins in Q2 2027, with first tritium targeted near 2030, followed by NOAK and then BOAK units. No hardware net-gain claim is made before the first-of-a-kind machine operates. The purpose of that machine is precisely to test the predictions on this site, to move confinement, breeding, and component life from simulation into measured fact, and the results will update the design canon accordingly.
- All figures are frozen design-point and simulation results
- Open gates: ST confinement, tritium self-sufficiency, center-post life
- Construction Q2 2027; first tritium ~2030; no net-gain claim before FOAK
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.