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Accurate measurement of the nuclear environment within a test tritium breeding-blanket module of a fusion reactor is crucial to determine tritium production rates which are relevant to self-suffici ...

In the last years, it has become apparent that detecting disruptions with sufficient anticipation time is an essential but not exclusive task of predictors. It is also important that the prediction is accompanied by appropriate qualifications of its reliability and it is formulated in mathematical terms appropriate for the task at hand (mitigation, avoidance, classification etc.). In this paper, a wide series of rule-based predictors, of the Classification and Regression Trees (CART) family, have been compared to assess their relative merits. An original refinement of the training, called noise-based ensembles, has allowed not only to obtain significantly better performance but also to increase the interpretability of the results. The final predictors can indeed be represented by a tree or a series of specific and clear rules. Such performance has been proved by analysing large databases of shots on JET with both the carbon wall and the ITER Like Wall. In terms of performance, the developed tools are therefore very competitive with other machine learning techniques, with the specificity of formulating the final models in terms of trees and simple rules.

Numerical scan at constant shows that core and scrape-off layer (SOL) radiations do not depend on the plasma current (I-p). Whereas the SOL radiation increases with seeding, the core radiation, how ...

In preparation for the upcoming deuterium-tritium campaign at the JET tokamak, the ex-vessel fission chamber neutron diagnostics and the neutron activation system will be calibrated in absolute terms at 14 MeV neutron energy, to a required accuracy of less than 10%. Two nominally identical DT neutron generators were chosen as the calibration sources, both of which were fully calibrated and characterized at the UK's National Physical Laboratory. The neutron activation method was adopted as a complementary method for the purpose of determining the absolute value of the neutron yield from the neutron generators and to provide a means of cross check for the active detection methods being employed. The work being presented here shows the derivation of the neutron emission rate from the neutron generators based upon experimental activation foil measurements. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

The present work presents a numerical study of the neutral gas dynamics in the JET sub-divertor. A complex model of the sub-divertor geometry is implemented and successful comparisons between corresponding numerical and experimental data have been performed. The experimental data represent the neutral gas pressure obtained by a sub-divertor pressure gauge. The recently developed Divertor Gas Simulator (DIVGAS) which is based on the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is applied. DIVGAS is able to predict the behaviour of the flow including macroscopic quantities of practical interest as for instance the pressure, temperature and bulk velocity. The non-linear feedback of the sub-divertor gas flow on the divertor plasma vicinity is not taken into account. For all presented plasma cases, the deduced flow pattern is non-isothermal and covers the free molecular up to the transition flow regime. Furthermore, for low intermediate and high divertor density simulations, recirculation effects occur through gaps between the vertical target tiles, which seem to be two order of magnitude less compared with the recycling ion flux onto the divertor walls.

The first divertor was installed in the JET machine between 1992 and 1994 and was operated with carbon tiles and then beryllium tiles in 1994-5. Post-mortem studies after these first experiments demonstrated that most of the impurities deposited in the divertor originate in the main chamber, and that asymmetric deposition patterns generally favouring the inner divertor region result from drift in the scrape-off layer. A new monolithic divertor structure was installed in 1996 which produced heavy deposition at shadowed areas in the inner divertor corner, which is where the majority of the tritium was trapped by co-deposition during the deuterium-tritium experiment in 1997. Different divertor geometries have been tested since such as the Gas-Box and High-Delta divertors; a principle objective has been to predict plasma behaviour, transport and tritium retention in ITER. Transport modelling experiments were carried out at the end of four campaigns by puffing C-13-labelled methane, and a range of diagnostics such as quartz-microbalance and rotating collectors have been installed to add time resolution to the post-mortem analyses. The study of material migration after D-D and D-T campaigns clearly revealed important consequences of fuel retention in the presence of carbon walls. They gave a strong impulse to make a fundamental change of wall materials. In 2010 the carbon divertor and wall tiles were removed and replaced with tiles with Be or W surfaces for the ITER-Like Wall Project. For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2018.10.002

In this paper we validate the finite element code RAPLICASOL, which models radiofrequency wave propagation in edge plasmas near ICRF antennas, against calculations with the TOPICA code. We compare the output of both codes for the ASDEX Upgrade 2-strap antenna, and for a 4-strap WEST-like antenna. Although RAPLICASOL requires considerably fewer computational resources than TOPICA, we find that the predicted quantities of experimental interest (including reflection coefficients, coupling resistances, S- and Z-matrix entries, optimal matching settings, and even radiofrequency electric fields) are in good agreement provided we are careful to use the same geometry in both codes.

The experimental method developed at ASDEX Upgrade for the determination of the intrinsic tungsten (W) density profile coupling data from the soft X-ray (SXR) diagnostic and vacuum-ultra-violet (VUV) spectroscopy has been upgraded for application to JET plasmas. The strong poloidal asymmetries in the SXR emission are modeled assuming a ln(ϵ(ρ,R)/ϵ(ρ,R0))=λ(ρ)(R2−R02) distribution, where ρ is the flux coordinate, R is the major radius, and λ is the fit parameter. The W density is calculated from the resulting 2D SXR emissivity maps accounting for contributions from a low-Z impurity (typically beryllium) and main ion with the assumption that their contributions are poloidally symmetric. Comparing the result with the independent W concentration measurement of VUV spectroscopy, a recalibration factor for the SXR emissivity is calculated making the method robust against the decrease in the sensitivity of the SXR diodes which has been observed across multiple campaigns. The final 2D W density map is checked for consistency versus the time-evolution of the W concentration measurement from VUV spectroscopy, toroidal rotation measurements from charge exchange recombination spectroscopy, and tomographic reconstructions of bolometry data. The method has been found to be robust for W concentrations above a few 10−5 and in cases where the contributions from other medium-Z impurities such as Ni are negligible.The experimental method developed at ASDEX Upgrade for the determination of the intrinsic tungsten (W) density profile coupling data from the soft X-ray (SXR) diagnostic and vacuum-ultra-violet (VUV) spectroscopy has been upgraded for application to JET plasmas. The strong poloidal asymmetries in the SXR emission are modeled assuming a ln(ϵ(ρ,R)/ϵ(ρ,R0))=λ(ρ)(R2−R02) distribution, where ρ is the flux coordinate, R is the major radius, and λ is the fit parameter. The W density is calculated from the resulting 2D SXR emissivity maps accounting for contributions from a low-Z impurity (typically beryllium) and main ion with the assumption that their contributions are poloidally symmetric. Comparing the result with the independent W concentration measurement of VUV spectroscopy, a recalibration factor for the SXR emissivity is calculated making the method robust against the decrease in the sensitivity of the SXR diodes which has been observed across multiple campaigns. The final 2D W density map is checked for...

The MHD response and the penetration of a deuterium shattered pellet into a JET plasma is investigated via the non-linear reduced MHD code JOREK with the neutral gas shielding (NGS) ablation model. The dominant MHD destabilizing mechanism by the injection is identified as the local helical cooling at each rational surface, as opposed to the global current profile contraction. Thus the injected fragments destabilize each rational surface as they pass through them. The injection penetration is found to be much better compared to MGI, with the convective transport caused by core MHD instabilities (e.g. 1/1 kink) contributing significantly to the core penetration. Moreover, the injection with realistic JET SPI system configurations is simulated in order to provide some insights into future operations, and the impact on the total assimilation and penetration depth of varying injection parameters such as the injection velocity or fineness of shattering is assessed. Further, the effect of changing the target equilibrium temperature or q profile on the assimilation and penetration is also investigated. Such analysis will form the basis of further investigation into a desirable configuration for the future SPI system in ITER. EURATOM 633053

Tungsten (W) melting due to transient power loads, for example those delivered by edge localised modes (ELMs), is a major concern for next step fusion devices. A series of experiments has been performed on JET to investigate the dynamics of Type-I ELM-induced transient melting. Following initial exposures in 2013 of a W-lamella with sharp leading edge in the bulk W outer divertor, new experiments have been performed in 2016–2017 on a protruding W-lamella with a 15° slope, allowing direct and spatially resolved (0.85 mm/pixel) observation of the top surface using the IR thermography system viewing from the top of the poloidal cross-section. Thermal and IR analysis have already been conducted assuming the geometrical projection of the parallel heat flux on the W-lamellas, thus ignoring the gyro-radius orbit of plasma particles. Although it is well justified during L-mode or inter-ELM period, the hypothesis becomes questionable during ELM when the ion Larmor radius is larger. The goal of this paper is to extend the previous analysis based on the forward approach to the H-mode discharges and investigate in particular the gyro-radius effect during the Type-I ELMs, those used to achieve transient melting on the slope of the protruding W-lamella. Surface temperatures measured by the IR camera are compared with reconstructed synthetic data from 3D thermal modelling using heat loads derived from optical projection of the parallel heat flux (ignoring the gyro-radius orbit), 2D gyro-radius orbit and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations describing the influence of finite Larmor-radius effects and electrical potential on the deposited power flux. Results show that the ELM power deposition behaves differently than the optical projection of the parallel heat flux, contrary to the L-mode observations, and may thus be due to the much larger gyro-orbits of the energetic ELM ions in comparison to L-mode or inter-ELM conditions. Keywords: ELM heat flux analysis, Optical projection, PIC modelling, Ion orbit modelling, IR data, Spatial resolution effect

Micro/nanoscopic observations on the surface of the divertor tiles used in the first campaign (2011-2012) of the JET tokamak with ITER-like Wall (JET ILW) have been carried out by means of several material analysis techniques. Previous results from the inner divertor were reported for a single poloidal section of the tile numbers 1, 3 and 4, i.e., upper, vertical and horizontal targets, respectively. The formation of the thick stratified mixed-material deposition layer on tiles 1 and 4, and erosion on tile 3 were identified. This study is mostly focused on the outer divertor: tiles 6, 7 and 8. In contrast to the inner tile, remarkable surface modifications have not been observed on the vertical target (tiles 7 and 8) where sputtering erosion and impurity deposition would have been almost balanced. Only a specific part of tile 6 (horizontal target) located near the exhaust channel was covered with a stratified ("geological-like") mixed-material deposition layer which mainly included Be and Ni with the thickness of similar to 2 mu m. Special feature of this mixed layer was that a certain amount of nitrogen (N) was clearly detected in the layer. Since the concentration of N varied with the depth position, it could be depended on the amount of that gas puffed for plasma edge cooling during the JET experimental campaign. In addition to the outer divertor tiles, a very interesting feature of the local erosion and deposition effects is reported in this paper.

International audience; In Ion-Temperature-Gradient (ITG) driven turbulence, the resonance condition leads to ion particle turbulent transport coefficients significantly larger than electron particle turbulent transport coefficients. This is shown in non-linear gyrokinetic simulations and explained by an analytical quasilinear model. It is then illustrated by JETTO-QuaLiKiz integrated modelling. Large ion particle transport coefficients implies that the ion density profiles are uncorrelated to the corresponding ion source, allowing peaked isotope density profiles even in the absence of core source. This also implies no strong core accumulation of He ash. Furthermore, the relaxation time of the individual ion profiles in a multi-species plasma can be significantly faster than the total density profile relaxation time which is constrained by the electrons. This leads to fast isotope mixing and fast impurity transport in ITG regimes. In Trapped-Electron-Mode (TEM) turbulence , in presence of electron heating about twice the ion heating, the situation is the inverse: ion particle turbulent transport coefficients are smaller than their electron counterpart.

The x-ray transitions in Cu- and Ni-like tungsten ions in the 5.19–5.26 A wavelength range that are relevant ˚ as a high-temperature tokamak diagnostic, in particular for JET in the ITER-like wall configuration, have been studied. Tungsten spectra were measured at the upgraded Shanghai- Electron Beam Ion Trap operated with electron-beam energies from 3.16 to 4.55 keV. High-resolution measurements were performed by means of a flat Si 111 crystal spectrometer equipped by a CCD camera. The experimental wavelengths were determined with an accuracy of 0.3–0.4 mA. The wavelength of the ground-state transition in Cu-like tungsten from the ˚ 3p53d104s4d [(3/2,(1/2,5/2)2]1/2 level was measured. All measured wavelengths were compared with those measured from JET ITER-like wall plasmas and with other experiments and various theoretical predictions including COWAN, RELAC, multiconfigurational Dirac-Fock (MCDF), and FAC calculations. To obtain a higher accuracy from theoretical predictions, the MCDF calculations were extended by taking into account correlation effects (configuration-interaction approach). It was found that such an extension brings the calculations closer to the experimental values in comparison with other calculations. National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Program of China 2015GB117000 National Natural Science Foundation of China 11374061 EURATOM 633053

The EUROfusion Work Package JET3 programme, established to enable the technological exploitation of the JET experiments over the next years, includes, within the NEXP subproject, a novel Shutdown Dose Rate (SDR) experiment. Considering its ITER-relevance, SDR experiments at JET represent a unique opportunity to validate the numerical tools for ITER nuclear analysis, through the comparison between numerical predictions and measured quantities (C/E). Within this framework, two active gamma dosimeters based on spherical air-vented ionization chambers (ICs) have been installed in ex-vessel positions close to the horizontal ports of the tokamak in Octants 1 and 2. The first JET campaign exploited in the novel SDR experiment is the latest 5-week Deuterium-Deuterium campaign (c36b), which achieved the best results in recent years in terms of high power operation. The present work is dedicated to the analysis of dose rate measurements carried out during this campaign and after shutdown. Proper correction factors are evaluated and applied to the instrument reading, while influence quantities and error sources are analyzed in order to calculate the overall experimental uncertainty.

Plasma tomography consists of reconstructing a two-dimensional radiation profile of a poloidal cross section of a fusion device based on line-integrated measurements along several lines of sight. The reconstruction process is computationally intensive, and in practice, only a few reconstructions are usually computed per pulse. In this work, we trained a deep neural network based on a large collection of sample tomograms that have been produced at JET over several years. Once trained, the network is able to reproduce those results with high accuracy. More importantly, it can compute all the tomographic reconstructions for a given pulse in just a few seconds. This makes it possible to visualize several phenomena—such as plasma heating, disruptions, and impurity transport—over the course of the entire pulse.

For the first time, over five confinement times, the self-consistent flux driven time evolution of heat, momentum transport and particle fluxes of electrons and multiple ions including Tungsten (W) is modeled within the integrated modeling platform JETTO (Romanelli et al 2014 Plasma Fusion Res. 9 1–4), using first principle-based codes: namely, QuaLiKiz (Bourdelle et al 2016 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 58 014036) for turbulent transport and NEO (Belli and Candy 2008 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 50 95010) for neoclassical transport. For a JET-ILW pulse, the evolution of measured temperatures, rotation and density profiles are successfully predicted and the observed W central core accumulation is obtained. The poloidal asymmetries of the W density modifying its neoclassical and turbulent transport are accounted for. Actuators of the W core accumulation are studied: removing the central particle source annihilates the central W accumulation whereas the suppression of the torque reduces significantly the W central accumulation. Finally, the presence of W slightly reduces main ion heat turbulent transport through complex nonlinear interplays involving radiation, effective charge impact on ITG and collisionality. EURATOM 633053

Reliable algorithms for disruption avoidance and prediction are foreseen to play a fundamental role in the JET control system for the successful operation of the machine in the upcoming deuterium-Tritium campaigns. The integration of such algorithms is expected to be a key part also in the implementation of the ITER plasma control system. So far, most of the effort has been devoted to the prediction of disruptions, which is required to mitigate the effects of these transient events, protecting the integrity of in-vessel components. Nevertheless, in order to put in place recover strategies or to have the possibility of a soft landing for the plasma current, the paradigm must be shifted to avoiding disruptions. In this paper, plasma profile-based indicators will be statistically analyzed showing their potential in such a perspective, where warning times and reliability of detection are crucial.

Beryllium oxide (BeO) and deuteroxide (BeOxDy) have been found on the melted zone of a beryllium tile extracted from the upper dump plate of JET-ILW (2011-2012 campaign). Results have been obtained using Raman microscopy, which is sensitive to both the chemical bond and crystal structure, with a micrometric lateral resolution. BeO is found with a wurtzite crystal structure. BeOxDy is found as three different types which are not the beta-phase but behaves as molecular species like Be(OD)(2), O(Be-D)(2) and DBeOD. The presence of a small amount of trapped D2O is also suspected. Our results therefore strongly suggest that D trapping occurs after melting through the formation of deuteroxides. The temperature increase favors the formation of crystal BeO which favors deuterium trapping through OD bonding. For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2018.11.008

Measurements of neutron streaming through penetrations in biological shields are being carried out at JET fusion device by means of thermoluminescence (TL) detectors with the objective to validate the neutronics codes and nuclear data widely applied in ITER nuclear analyses in a real fusion environment. TLDs response due to the neutron component of the radiation field is related to the neutron fluence in a well-defined neutron energy spectrum. Therefore, a TLDs calibration in real fusion radiation fields is necessary to allow neutron fluence from TL measurements at JET to be more precisely calculated. Hence, a MCP-N and MCP-7 TLDs produced at the IFJ PAN in Kraków were calibrated at the ENEA facilities of Frascati and Casaccia laboratories. The obtained results have been analysed and new calibration factors are proposed. The detection system based on TLDs developed and calibrated for JET experiments can then be generally applied not only to fusion neutron fields, but also to ITER to monitor the neutron fluence outside the biological shield. © 2018

Understanding the details of the correlation between time series is an essential step on the route to assessing the causal relation between systems. Traditional statistical indicators, such as the Pearson correlation coefficient and the mutual information, have some significant limitations. More recently, transfer entropy has been proposed as a powerful tool to understand the flow of information between signals. In this paper, the comparative advantages of transfer entropy, for determining the time horizon of causal influence, are illustrated with the help of synthetic data. The technique has been specifically revised for the analysis of synchronization experiments. The investigation of experimental data from thermonuclear plasma diagnostics proves the potential and limitations of the developed approach. For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/e20090627

This paper deals with a divertor coil currents optimized procedure to design High Flux Expansion (HFE) configurations in the JET tokamak aimed to study the effects of flux expansion variation on the radiation fraction and radiated power re-distribution. A number of benefits of HFE configuration have been experimentally demonstrated on TCV, EAST, NSTX and DIII-D tokamaks and are under investigation for next generation devices, as DEMO and DTT. The procedure proposed here exploits the linearized relation between the plasma-wall gaps and the Poloidal Field (PF) coil currents. Once the linearized model is provided by means of CREATE-NL code, the divertor coils currents are calculated using a constrained quadratic programming optimization procedure, in order to achieve HFE configuration. Flux expanded configurations have been experimentally realized both in ohmic and heated plasma with and without nitrogen seeding. Preliminary results on the effects of the flux expansion variation on total power radiation increase will be also briefly discussed. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

This paper analyses the final phase of hybrid scenario discharges at JET, the reduction of auxiliary heating towards finally the Ohmic phase. The here considered Ohmic phase is mostly still in the current flattop but may also be in the current ramp down. For this purpose a database is created of 54 parameters in 7 phases distributed in time of the discharge. It is found that the occurrence of a locked mode is in most cases preceded by a radiation peaking after the main heating phase either in a low power phase and/or in the Ohmic phase. To gain insight on the importance of different parameters in this process a correlation analysis to the radiation peaking in the Ohmic phase is done. The first finding is that the further away in time the analysed phases are the less the correlation is. This means in the end that a good termination scenario might also be able to terminate unhealthy plasmas safely. The second finding is that remaining impurities in the plasma after reducing the heating power in the termination phase are the most important reason for generating a locked mode which can lead to a disruption. © EURATOM 2018.

Fast ions have recently been found to significantly impact and partially suppress plasma turbulence both in experimental and numerical studies in a number of scenarios. Understanding the underlying physics and identifying the range of their beneficial effect is an essential task for future fusion reactors, where highly energetic ions are generated through fusion reactions and external heating schemes. However, in many of the gyrokinetic codes fast ions are, for simplicity, treated as equivalent-Maxwellian-distributed particle species, although it is well known that to rigorously model highly non-thermalised particles, a non-Maxwellian background distribution function is needed. To study the impact of this assumption, the gyrokinetic code GENE has recently been extended to support arbitrary background distribution functions which might be either analytic, e.g. slowing down and bi-Maxwellian, or obtained from numerical fast ion models. A particular JET plasma with strong fast-ion related turbulence suppression is revised with these new code capabilities both with linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations. It appears that the fast ion stabilization tends to be less strong but still substantial with more realistic distributions, and this improves the quantitative power balance agreement with experiments., Submitted to Physics of Plasmas

A novel Shutdown dose rate benchmark experiment has been performed at Joint European Torus (JET) machine during the last high performance Deuterium-Deuterium (DD) campaign in preparation of future ...

In order to contribute to the understanding of runaway electron generation mechanisms during tokamak disruptions, a test particle tracker is introduced in the JOREK 3D non-linear MHD code, able to compute both full and guiding center relativistic orbits. Tests of the module show good conservation of the invariants of motion and consistency between full orbit and guiding center solutions. A first application is presented where test electron confinement properties are investigated in a massive gas injection-triggered disruption simulation in JET-like geometry. It is found that electron populations initialised before the thermal quench (TQ) are typically not fully deconfined in spite of the global stochasticity of the magnetic field during the TQ. The fraction of ‘survivors’ decreases from a few tens down to a few tenths of percent as the electron energy varies from 1 keV to 10 MeV. The underlying mechanism for electron ‘survival’ is the prompt reformation of closed magnetic surfaces at the plasma core and, to a smaller extent, the subsequent reappearance of a magnetic surface at the edge. It is also found that electrons are less deconfined at 10 MeV than at 1 MeV, which appears consistent with a phase averaging effect due to orbit shifts at high energy.

Fusion energy systems pose unique challenges to the modeling and simulation community. These challenges must be met to ensure the success of the ITER experimental fusion reactor. ITER’s complex systems require detailed modeling that goes beyond the scale of comparable simulations to date. In this work, the Denovo radiation transport code was used to calculate neutron fluence and kerma for the JET streaming benchmark. This work was performed on the Titan supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. Denovo is a novel three-dimensional discrete ordinates transport code designed to be highly scalable. Sensitivity studies have been completed to examine the impact of several deterministic parameters. Results were compared against experiment as well as the MCNP and Shift Monte Carlo codes.

Heavy impurities, such as tungsten (W), can exhibit strongly poloidally asymmetric density profiles in rotating or radio frequency heated plasmas. In the metallic environment of JET, the poloidal asymmetry of tungsten enhances its neoclassical transport up to an order of magnitude, so that neoclassical convection dominates over turbulent transport in the core. Accounting for asymmetries in neoclassical transport is hence necessary in the integrated modeling framework. The neoclassical drift kinetic code, NEO [E. Belli and J. Candy, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion P50, 095010 (2008)], includes the impact of poloidal asymmetries on W transport. However, the computational cost required to run NEO slows down significantly integrated modeling. A previous analytical formulation to describe heavy impurity neoclassical transport in the presence of poloidal asymmetries in specific collisional regimes [C. Angioni and P. Helander, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 56, 124001 (2014)] is compared in this work to numerical results from NEO. Within the domain of validity of the formula, the factor for reducing the temperature screening due to poloidal asymmetries had to be empirically adjusted. After adjustment, the modified formula can reproduce NEO results outside of its definition domain, with some limitations: When main ions are in the banana regime, the formula reproduces NEO results whatever the collisionality regime of impurities, provided that the poloidal asymmetry is not too large. However, for very strong poloidal asymmetries, agreement requires impurities in the Pfirsch-Schlüter regime. Within the JETTO integrated transport code, the analytical formula combined with the poloidally symmetric neoclassical code NCLASS [W. A. Houlberg et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 3230 (1997)] predicts the same tungsten profile as NEO in certain cases, while saving a factor of one thousand in computer time, which can be useful in scoping studies. The parametric dependencies of the temperature screening reduction due to poloidal asymmetries would need to be better characterised for this faster model to be extended to a more general applicability.

The total emission of radiation is a crucial quantity to calculate the power balances and to understand the physics of any Tokamak. Bolometric systems are the main tool to measure this important physical quantity through quite sophisticated tomographic inversion methods. On the Joint European Torus, the coverage of the bolometric diagnostic, due to the availability of basically only two projection angles, is quite limited, rendering the inversion a very ill-posed mathematical problem. A new approach, based on the maximum likelihood, has therefore been developed and implemented to alleviate one of the major weaknesses of traditional tomographic techniques: the difficulty to determine routinely the confidence intervals in the results. The method has been validated by numerical simulations with phantoms to assess the quality of the results and to optimise the configuration of the parameters for the main types of emissivity encountered experimentally. The typical levels of statistical errors, which may significantly influence the quality of the reconstructions, have been identified. The systematic tests with phantoms indicate that the errors in the reconstructions are quite limited and their effect on the total radiated power remains well below 10%. A comparison with other approaches to the inversion and to the regularization has also been performed.

Diagnostic alkali atom (e.g., lithium) beams are routinely used to diagnose magnetically confined plasmas, namely, to measure the plasma electron density profile in the edge and the scrape off layer region. A light splitting optics system was installed into the observation system of the lithium beam emission spectroscopy diagnostic at the Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak, which allows simultaneous measurement of the beam light emission with a spectrometer and a fast avalanche photodiode (APD) camera. The spectrometer measurement allows density profile reconstruction with ∼10 ms time resolution, absolute position calculation from the Doppler shift, spectral background subtraction as well as relative intensity calibration of the channels for each discharge. The APD system is capable of measuring light intensities on the microsecond time scale. However ∼100 μs integration is needed to have an acceptable signal to noise ratio due to moderate light levels. Fast modulation of the beam up to 30 kHz is implemented which allows background subtraction on the 100 μs time scale. The measurement covers the 0.9 < ρpol < 1.1 range with 6-10 mm optical resolution at the measurement location which translates to 3-5 mm radial resolution at the midplane due to flux expansion. An automated routine has been developed which performs the background subtraction, the relative calibration, and the comprehensive error calculation, runs a Bayesian density reconstruction code, and loads results to the JET database. The paper demonstrates the capability of the APD system by analyzing fast phenomena like pellet injection and edge localized modes.

In many tokamaks ferromagnetic material, usually referred to as an iron-core, is present in order to improve the magnetic coupling between the solenoid and the plasma. The presence of the iron core ...

This paper further analyses the EDGE2D-EIRENE simulations presented by [Chankin et al 2017 Nucl. Mater. Energy 12 273], of L-mode JET plasmas in vertical-vertical (VV) and vertical-horizontal (VH) divertor configurations. As expected, the simulated outer divertor ionisation source peaks near the separatrix in VV and radially further out in VH. We identify the reflections of recycled neutrals from lower divertor tiles as the primary mechanism by which ionisation is concentrated on the outer divertor separatrix in the VV configuration. These lower tile reflection pathways (of neutrals from the outer divertor, and to an even greater extent from the inner divertor) dominate the outer divertor separatrix ionisation. In contrast, the lower-tile-reflection pathways are much weaker in the VH simulation and its outer divertor ionisation is dominated by neutrals which do not reflect from any surfaces. Interestingly, these differences in neutral pathways give rise to strong differences in the heat flux density width λq at the outer divertor entrance: λq = 3.2 mm in VH compared to λq = 11.8 mm in VV. In VH, a narrow channel exists in the near scrape-off-layer (SOL) where the convected heat flux, driven by strong Er × B flow and thermoelectric current, dominates over the conducted heat flux. The width of this channel sets λq and is determined by the radial distance between the separatrix and the ionisation peak in the outer divertor EURATOM 633053 RCUK Energy Programme P012450/1

In the preparation for the Deuterium-Tritium campaign, JET will operate with a tritium plasma. The T + T reaction consists of two notable channels: (1) T + T -> He-4 + 2n, (2) T + T -> He-5 + ...

The impact of the finite grid size in SOLPS-ITER edge plasma simulations is assessed for JET H-mode discharges with a metal wall. For a semi-horizontal divertor configuration it is shown that the separatrix density is at least 30% higher when a narrow scrape-off layer (SOL) grid width is chosen in SOLPS-ITER compared to the case for which the SOL grid width is maximised. The density increase is caused by kinetic neutrals being not confined inside the divertor region because of the reduced extent of the plasma grid. In this case, an enhanced level of reflections of energetic neutrals at the low-field side (LFS) metal divertor wall is observed. This leads to a shift of the ionisation source further upstream which must be accounted for as a numerical artefact. An overestimate in the cooling at the divertor entrance is observed in this case, identified by a reduced heat flux decay parameters lambda(div)(q). Otherwise and further upstream the mid-plane heat decay length lambda(q) parameter is not affected by any change in divertor dissipation. This confirms the assumptions made for the ITER divertor design studies, i.e. that lambda(q) upstream is essentially set by the assumptions for the ratio radial to parallel heat conductivity. It is also shown that even for attached conditions the decay length relations lambda(ne)>lambda(Te)>lambda(q) hold in the near-SOL upstream. Thus for interpretative edge plasma simulations one must take the (experimental) value of lambda(ne) into account, rather than lambda(q), as the former actually defines the required minimum upstream SOL grid extent. For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2018.10.013

ASCOT Fusion Source Integrator AFSI, an efficient tool for calculating fusion reaction rates and characterizing the fusion products, based on arbitrary reactant distributions, has been developed and is reported in this paper. Calculation of reactor-relevant D-D, D-T and D-3He fusion reactions has been implemented based on the Bosch-Hale fusion cross sections. The reactions can be calculated between arbitrary particle populations, including Maxwellian thermal particles and minority energetic particles. Reaction rate profiles, energy spectra and full 4D phase space distributions can be calculated for the non-isotropic reaction products. The code is especially suitable for integrated modelling in self-consistent plasma physics simulations as well as in the Serpent neutronics calculation chain. Validation of the model has been performed for neutron measurements at the JET tokamak and the code has been applied to predictive simulations in ITER.

The impact of the change of the mass of hydrogen isotopes on the turbulent particle flux is studied. The trapped electron component of the turbulent particle convection induced by collisionality, which is outward in ion temperature gradient turbulence, increases with decreasing thermal velocity of the isotope. Thereby, the lighter is the isotope, the stronger is the turbulent pinch, and the larger is the predicted density gradient at the null of the particle flux. The passing particle component of the flux increases with decreasing mass of the isotope and can also affect the predicted density gradient. This effect is however subdominant for usual core plasma parameters. The analytical results are confirmed by means of both quasi-linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations, and an estimate of the difference in local density gradient produced by this effect as a function of collisionality has been obtained for typical plasma parameters at mid-radius. Analysis of currently available experimental data from the JET and the ASDEX Upgrade tokamaks does not show any clear and general evidence of inconsistency with this theoretically predicted effect outside the errorbars and also allows the identification of cases providing weak evidence of qualitative consistency.

The kinetic code for plasma periphery (KIPP) was used to assess the importance of the kinetic effects of parallel electron transport in the scrape-off layer (SOL) and divertor of JET high radiative H-mode inter-ELM plasma conditions with the ITER-like wall and strong nitrogen (N2) injection. Plasma parameter profiles along a magnetic field from one of the EDGE2D-EIRENE simulation cases were used as an input for KIPP runs. Profiles were maintained by particle and power sources. KIPP generated electron distribution functions, f e, parallel power fluxes, electron-ion thermoforces, Debye sheath potential drops and electron sheath transmission factors at divertor targets. For heat fluxes in the main SOL, KIPP results showed deviations from classical (e.g. Braginskii) fluxes by factors typically of ∼1.5, sometimes up to 2, with the flux limiting for more upstream positions and flux enhancement near entrances to the divertor. In the divertor, at the same time, for radial positions closer to the separatrix, very large heat flux enhancement factors of up to ten or even higher, indicative of a strong nonlocal heat transport, were found at the outer target, with heat power flux density exhibiting bump-on-tail features at high energies. Under such extreme conditions, however, contributions of conductive power fluxes to total power fluxes were strongly reduced, with convective power fluxes becoming comparable, or sometimes exceeding, conductive power fluxes. Electron-ion thermoforce, on the other hand, which is known to be determined mostly by thermal and subthermal electrons, was found to be in good agreement with Braginskii formulas, including the Z eff dependence. Overall, KIPP results indicate, at least for the plasma conditions used in this modelling, a sizable, but not dominant, effect of kinetics on parallel electron transport.

International audience; The paper is dedicated to the characterisation of multi-strap ICRH antenna coupling to plasma. Relevance of traditional concept of coupling resistance to antennas with mutually coupled straps is revised and the importance of antenna port excitation consistency for application of the concept is highlighted. A method of antenna S-matrix measurement in presence of plasma is discussed allowing deeper insight into the problem of antenna-plasma coupling. The method is based entirely on the RF plant hardware and control facilities available at JET and it involves application of variable phasing between the antenna straps during the RF plant operations at >100 kW. Unlike traditional techniques relying on low-power (~10 mW) network analysers, the applied antenna voltage amplitudes are relevant to practical conditions of ICRH operations; crucially, they are high enough to minimise possible effects of antenna loading non-linearity due to the RF sheath effects and other phenomena which could affect low-power measurements. The method has been successfully applied at JET to conventional 4-port ICRH antennas energised at frequencies of 33 MHz, 42 MHz and 51 MHz during L-mode plasma discharges while different gas injection modules (GIMs) were used to maintain comparable plasma densities during the pulses. The S-matrix assessment and its subsequent processing yielding `global' antenna coupling resistances in conditions of equalised port maximum voltages allowed consistent description of antenna coupling to plasma at different strap phasing, operational frequencies and applied GIMs. Comprehensive experimental characterisation of mutually coupled antenna straps in presence of plasma also provided a unique opportunity for in-depth verification of TOPICA computer simulations.

We report the first experimental observation of the depolarization of the Thomson scattering (TS) radiation, a relativistic effect expected to occur in very high T e plasmas and never observed so far in a fusion machine. A set of unused optical fibers in the collection optics of the high resolution Thomson scattering system of JET has been used to detect the depolarized TS radiation during a JET campaign with T e 8keV . A linear polarizer with the axis perpendicular to the direction of the incident E -field was placed in front of a fiber optic pair observing a region close to the plasma core, while another fiber pair with no polariser simultaneously observed an adjacent plasma region. The measured intensity ratio was found to be consistent with the theory, taking into account sensitivity coefficients of the two measurement channels determined with post-experiment calibrations and Raman scattering. This depolarization effect is at the basis of polarimetric TS, a different and complementary method for the analysis of TS spectra that can provide significant advantages for T e measurements in very hot plasmas such as in ITER ( T e 40keV ).

A new compact gamma-ray spectrometer was developed in order to optimise the measurement of bremsstrahlung radiation emitted from runaway electrons in the MeV range. The detector is based on a cerium doped lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO:Ce) scintillator coupled to a silicon photomultiplier and is insensitive to magnetic fields. A dedicated electronic board was developed to optimise the signal readout as well as for online control of the device. The detector combines a dynamic range up to 10 MeV with moderate energy non-linearity, counting rate capabilities in excess of 1 MHz, and an energy resolution that extrapolates to a few % in the MeV range, thus meeting the requirements for its application to runaway electron studies by bremsstrahlung measurements in the gamma-ray energy range.

Experimental observations in JET tokamak plasmas and gyrokinetic simulations point to an important role, for electron heat transport, of electron-scale instabilities and of their interaction with ion-scale instabilities. Since these effects are maximized for strong electron heating and ion-scale modes close to marginal stability, these findings are of high relevance for ITER plasmas, featuring both conditions. Gyrokinetic and quasi-linear transport models accounting for multi-scale effects are assessed against JET experimental results.

Neutron emission spectroscopy is a diagnostic technique that allows for energy measurements of neutrons born in nuclear reactions. The JET tokamak fusion experiment (Culham, UK) has a special role in this respect as advanced spectrometers for 2.5 MeV and 14 MeV neutrons have been developed here for the first time for measurements of the neutron emission spectrum from D and DT plasmas with unprecedented accuracy. Twin liquid scintillating neutron spectrometers were built and calibrated at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) (Braunschweig, Germany) and installed on JET in the recent years with tangential-equatorial (KM12) and vertical-radial (KM13) view lines, with the latter only recently operational. This article reports on the performance of KM12 and on the development of the data analysis methods in order to extract physics information upon D ions kinematics in JET auxiliary-heated D plasmas from 2.5 MeV neutron measurements. The comparison of these results with the correspondents from other JET neutron spectrometers is also presented: their agreement allows for JET unique capability of multi-lines of sight neutron spectroscopy and for benchmarking other 14 MeV neutron spectrometers installed on the same lines of sight in preparation for the DT experimental campaign at JET. © 2018 EURATOM.

The connection between plasma physics and neutronics is crucial for the understanding of the operation and performance of modern and future tokamak devices. Neutrons are one of the primary carriers ...

Compact DT neutron generators based on accelerators are often built on the principle of a mixed beam operation, meaning that deuterium (D) and tritium (T) are both present in the ion beam and in the target. Moreover, the beam consists of a mixture of ions and ionized molecules (D, T ions, and ionized D-D, T-T and D-T molecules) so the relevant source components come from T(d, n), D(t, n), D(d, n) and T(t, 2n) reactions at different ion energies. The method for assessing the relative amplitudes of different source components (DD, DT, TT) is presented. The assessment relies on the measurement of the neutron spectrum of different DT components (T(d, n) and D(t, n) at different energies) using a high resolution neutron spectrometer, e.g. a diamond detector, fusion reaction cross-sections, and simulations of neutron generation in the target. Through this process a complete description of the neutron source properties of the mixed beam neutron generator can be made and a neutron source description card, in a format suitable for Monte Carlo code MCNP, produced.

The design and operation of future fusion devices relying on H-mode plasmas requires reliable modelling of edge-localized modes (ELMs) for precise prediction of divertor target conditions. An exten ...

Neutral particle analysis (NPA) is one of the few methods for diagnosing fast ions inside a plasma by measuring neutral atom fluxes emitted due to charge exchange reactions. The JET tokamak features an NPA diagnostic which measures neutral atom fluxes and energy spectra simultaneously for hydrogen, deuterium and tritium species. A synthetic NPA diagnostic has been developed and used to interpret these measurements to diagnose energetic particles in JET plasmas with neutral beam injection (NBI) heating. The synthetic NPA diagnostic performs a Monte Carlo calculation of the neutral atom fluxes in a realistic geometry. The 4D fast ion distributions, representing NBI ions, were simulated using the Monte Carlo orbit-following code ASCOT. Neutral atom density profiles were calculated using the FRANTIC neutral code in the JINTRAC modelling suite. Additionally, for rapid analysis, a scan of neutral profiles was precalculated with FRANTIC for a range of typical plasma parameters. These were taken from the JETPEAK database, which includes a comprehensive set of data from the flat-top phases of nearly all discharges in recent JET campaigns. The synthetic diagnostic was applied to various JET plasmas in the recent hydrogen campaign where different hydrogen/deuterium mixtures and NBI configurations were used. The simulated neutral fluxes from the fast ion distributions were found to agree with the measured fluxes, reproducing the slowing-down profiles for different beam isotopes and energies and quantitatively estimating the fraction of hydrogen and deuterium fast ions.

The present paper describes the findings of the calibration of the neutron yield monitors on the Joint European Torus (JET) performed in 2013 using a 252Cf source deployed inside the torus by the remote handling system, with particular regard to the calibration of fission chambers which provide the time resolved neutron yield from JET plasmas. The experimental data obtained in toroidal, radial, and vertical scans are presented. These data are first analysed following an analytical approach adopted in the previous neutron calibrations at JET. In this way, a calibration function for the volumetric plasma source is derived which allows us to understand the importance of the different plasma regions and of different spatial profiles of neutron emissivity on fission chamber response. Neutronics analyses have also been performed to calculate the correction factors needed to derive the plasma calibration factors taking into account the different energy spectrum and angular emission distribution of the calibrating (point) 252Cf source, the discrete positions compared to the plasma volumetric source, and the calibration circumstances. All correction factors are presented and discussed. We discuss also the lessons learnt which are the basis for the on-going 14 MeV neutron calibration at JET and for ITER. © 2017 EURATOM.

The ASCOT Fusion Source Integrator (AFSI) has been used to calculate neutron production rates and spectra corresponding to the JET 19-channel neutron camera (KN3) and the time-of-flight spectrometer (TOFOR) as ideal diagnostics, without detector-related effects. AFSI calculates fusion product distributions in 4D, based on Monte Carlo integration from arbitrary reactant distribution functions. The distribution functions were calculated by the ASCOT Monte Carlo particle orbit following code for thermal, NBI and ICRH particle reactions. Fusion cross-sections were defined based on the Bosch-Hale model and both DD and DT reactions have been included. Neutrons generated by AFSI-ASCOT simulations have already been applied as a neutron source of the Serpent neutron transport code in ITER studies. Additionally, AFSI has been selected to be a main tool as the fusion product generator in the complete analysis calculation chain: ASCOT - AFSI - SERPENT (neutron and gamma transport Monte Carlo code) - APROS (system and power plant modelling code), which encompasses the plasma as an energy source, heat deposition in plant structures as well as cooling and balance-of-plant in DEMO applications and other reactor relevant analyses. This conference paper presents the first results and validation of the AFSI DD fusion model for different auxiliary heating scenarios (NBI, ICRH) with very different fast particle distribution functions. Both calculated quantities (production rates and spectra) have been compared with experimental data from KN3 and synthetic spectrometer data from ControlRoom code. No unexplained differences have been observed. In future work, AFSI will be extended for synthetic gamma diagnostics and additionally, AFSI will be used as part of the neutron transport calculation chain to model real diagnostics instead of ideal synthetic diagnostics for quantitative benchmarking.

The fuel outgassing efficiency from plasma-facing components exposed in JET-ILW has been studied at ITER-relevant baking temperatures. Samples retrieved from the W divertor and Be main chamber were annealed at 350 and 240 °C, respectively. Annealing was performed with thermal desoprtion spectrometry (TDS) for 0, 5 and 15 h to study the deuterium removal effectiveness at the nominal baking temperatures. The remained fraction was determined by emptying the samples fully of deuterium by heating W and Be samples up to 1000 and 775 °C, respectively. Results showed the deposits in the divertor having an increasing effect to the remaining retention at temperatures above baking. Highest remaining fractions 54 and 87% were observed with deposit thicknesses of 10 and 40 μm, respectively. Substantially high fractions were obtained in the main chamber samples from the deposit-free erosion zone of the limiter midplane, in which the dominant fuel retention mechanism is via implantation: 15 h annealing resulted in retained deuterium higher than 90%. TDS results from the divertor were simulated with TMAP7 calculations. The spectra were modelled with three deuterium activation energies resulting in good agreement with the experiments EURATOM 633053