Control of the hydrogen:deuterium isotope mixture using pellets in JET

Abstract

Deuterium pellets are injected into an initially pure hydrogen H-mode plasma in order to control the hydrogen:deuterium (H:D) isotope mixture. The pellets are deposited in the outer 20% of the minor radius, similar to that expected in ITER, creating transiently hollow electron density profiles. A H:D isotope mixture of approximately 45%:55% is obtained in the core with a pellet fuelling throughput of similar to previous pellet fuelling experiments in pure deuterium. Evolution of the H:D mix in the core is reproduced using a simple model, although deuterium transport could be higher at the beginning of the pellet train compared with the flat-top phase.