The first burner is a demonstrator, not a plant: about 10 MWe, self-fuelled by the helium-3 that Hyperion's surplus tritium decays into — roughly 2 kilograms per year. It is fuel, not physics, that sets its size, and a commercial unit's fuel need is many times larger.
Surplus tritium decays to helium-3 at about 2 kg/yr per standing inventory — enough to fuel a roughly 10 MWe self-fuelled Aegis demonstrator (Phase 2), but far short of a commercial unit's 28-54 kg/yr. So the demonstrator is sized to the self-supplied fuel, and the commercial burner fleet is honestly gated on an external helium-3 supply (lunar, ~2036).
Scoping the first burner to fuel the breeder itself produces keeps the whole programme honest about the helium-3 constraint. It proves the physics and the closure gates at a size the fuel supply can actually support, deferring commercial-scale power to a changed fuel landscape.
| Demonstrator output | ~10 MWe (self-fuelled Aegis, Phase 2) |
| Fuel source | ~2 kg/yr breeder decay He-3 |
| Commercial unit need | 28-54 kg/yr He-3 |
| Commercial fleet gate | external He-3 (lunar, ~2036) |
| Sets the size | available fuel, not physics |