JET with a pumped divertor technical issues and main results

Abstract

The most recent modification to JET has been the installation of a single-null pumped divertor, for active control of plasma impurities. This is to address central physics issues relevant to the design of a 'next step' tokamak. Experiments conducted during the 1994-95 campaign, with plasma currents up to 6MA, have shown that the Mark I divertor, which makes use of strike point sweeping across the target plates, is a suitable tool to control the influx of impurities in the plasma core. The operation of a tokamak with a pumped divertor has been characterised in detail. However the divertor configuration must be optimised to better meet ITER requirements. Therefore an improved (more closed) divertor structure, which may not require sweeping, is under assembly at present (Mark II). It is designed, in addition, to allow divertor tile structures to be fully replaceable by remote handling techniques, following D-T fusion experiments. New types of events involving electromechanical interactions of plasma with the vessel and in-vessel structural components have been encountered, due to plasma vertical instabilities and disruptions (such as toroidal asymmetries of vacuum vessel forces and side-ways vessel displacements). The physics and engineering experimental work performed in JET is primarily dedicated to the finalisation of the ITER design.