JET ITER-like Wall - Overview and experimental programme
G.F.Matthews
a,*
, M.Beurskens
a
, S.Brezinsek
b
, M.Groth
c
, E.Joffrin
d
, A.Loving
a
, M.Kear
a
, M-
L.Mayoral
a
, R.Neu
e
, P.Prior
a
, V.Riccardo
a
, F.Rimini
f,g
, M.Rubel
h
, G.Sips
f,g
, E.Villedieu
d
, P. de
Vries
i
, M.L.Watkins
a,f
, and EFDA-JET Contributors
j
JET/-EFDA Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, OX14 3DB, UK
a
Euratom/CCFE Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, OX14 3DB, UK
b
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Euratom Association, Jülich, Germany
c
Association Euratom-TEKES, VTT Processes, Finland
d
Association Euratom-CEA, Cadarache, DSM/IRFM, Saint Paul Lez Durance, France
e
Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, 85748 Garching, Germany
f
EFDA Close Support Unit, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB, UK
g
European Commission, Brussels, B-1049, Belgium
h
Alfvén Laboratory, Royal Inst. Technology (KTH), Assoc. EURATOM-VR,100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
i
FOM Institute for Plasma Physics, Rijnhuizen P.O. Box 1207, 3420BE Nieuwegein, Netherland
j
See Appendix of F. Romanelli et al., Proceedings of the 22nd IAEA FEC 2008, Geneva, Switzerland
*Corresponding author: Tel:+441235 464523, E-mail address: gfm@jet.uk
1. Abstract
This paper reports the successful installation of the JET ITER-like Wall and the realisation of
its technical objectives. It also presents an overview of the planned experimental programme
which has been optimised to exploit the new wall and other JET enhancement in 2011/12.
2. Introduction
The ITER reference materials [pitts] have been tested in isolation in tokamaks, plasma
simulators, ion beams and high heat flux test beds. However, an integrated test demonstrating
both acceptable tritium retention, predicted to be one to two orders of magnitude lower than
for a carbon wall [roth], and an ability to operate a large high power tokamak within the limits
set by these materials has not yet been carried out. The ITER-like Wall now installed in JET
by remote handling comprises solid beryllium limiters and a combination of bulk W and W-
coated CFC divertor tiles.
Work is also well advanced in defining the 2011/12 JET experimental programme and setting
up the teams. A phased approach will be adopted which maximises the scientific output early
in the programme on the basic materials and fuel retention questions whilst minimising the
risk associated with operation in an all metal machine. However, re-establishing H-modes at
similar power levels to those with the carbon walls is a priority for establishing a reference
database. The JET upgrades also include an increase in neutral beam heating power, up to
35MW for 20s [ciric], this has led to a requirement that the most critical first wall Be and W
components are monitored in real time by an appropriate imaging protection system [Alves,
Jouve, Stephen]. In the main chamber, an array of thermocouples has been fitted to
unambiguously monitor the bulk temperature of critical tiles. Before this upgrade, only a
divertor system was available which proved essential for interpretation of IR data [Eich] and
this will be even more the case with an all metal wall due to reflection and uncertain
emissivity. Safe expansion of operating space will also be a priority. Experiments will have to
be carefully managed if they have the potential to jeopardise interpretation of the long term
samples which are planned to be removed in a 2012 intervention. Here the concern is that
significant mobilisation of molten material could potentially swamp the intrinsic migration
due to intrinsic sputtering which is a key part of the baseline migration and fuel retention
picture for ITER.
This paper reviews the preparation and installation of the ITER-like Wall and gives an
overview of the experimental programme which is due to start in the summer of 2011.
Particular emphasis is given to the contribution of both aspects to ITER preparation.
3. Transformation of the JET interior
The ITER-like Wall Project had the objective to replace all the existing carbon fibre
composite (CFC) tiles in JET, Fig. 1, with beryllium as the dominant main chamber material
with tungsten surfaces in the divertor [pamela, matthews07, matthews09]. The project also
had to minimise the impact of the materials changes on JET operational limits and work with
the existing support structures [riccardo, thompson]. In the main chamber this was achieved
by using bulk beryllium on Inconel carriers for the limiters with tungsten coated CFC [ruset]
in some higher heat flux recessed areas, for example the neutral beam shine through areas,
and beryllium coated Inconel elsewhere [hirai]. The divertor consists of W-coated CFC tiles
[maier, ruset] and a single toroidally continuous belt of bulk tungsten at the outer strike point
[mertens].
Figure 1 The JET carbon wall which had to be completely removed in the first stage of the
shutdown.
3.1 The ITER-like Wall
Various numbers have been quoted to give a sense of the scale of the project and vary
depending on exact definition. A tile is regarded as a single piece of beryllium or CFC which
in many cases may be part of an assembly. For example, the outer wide poloidal limiter
elements consist of Inconel carriers supporting 7 beryllium tiles. An installable item is
something the remote handling system carries into the torus as a single unit. On this basis the
figures are:
Number of installable items: 2,880
Number of individual tiles: 5,384 Be tiles (1,915 kg Be ~ 1m3)
1,288 W-coated CFC
9,216 W-lamellas in the bulk W tile
Total number of tiles 15,828
Total number of parts: 85,273 counting bulk W tile modules as one part
Bulk W tile parts 191,664 including 100,080 shims (2880 kg)
Figure 2 The ITER-like Wall taken at completion on 5
th
May 2011
Procurement and assembly of the ITER-like Wall presented both technical and logistical
challenges. Although many of the original tiles, Fig. 1, look similar in reality many were
unique and poorly documented legacy items. Optical scanners were used to check any suspect
removed items against the drawings for evidence of unrecorded modifications and a full
stereo photographic survey of the naked wall was carried out after removal of the CFC tiles to
help spot potential clashes with features not in the CAD models (anomalies). Despite these
measures there were several hundred anomalies which were disruptive to the remote handling
work and challenging to resolve since modifications to tiles contaminated with beryllium or
trace tritium from the JET vessel is strictly controlled at JET. These challenges prolonged the
shutdown by 4 months beyond the objective of 12 months. However there were no gaps in the
in-vessel work which was carried out seven days a week for 18 hours a day. Overall, the
strategy to trial assemble and inspect, including remote handling tool fit check, all the new
components on jigs representing the in-vessel support structures was very successful.
Compared to previous shutdowns there were very few installation problems related to
component quality which is particularly critical when remote handling is being used.
The anticipated JET operating limits with the new wall have been detailed by Riccardo
[Riccardo]. The thermal limits are most fundamentally driven by relatively low melting point
of beryllium (1356ºC), the robustness of tungsten coatings to slow [maier] and fast [thomser]
thermal cycles and support structures for the bulk tungsten tile [mertens]. Furthermore, the
ITER-like Wall was designed to avoid exposure of beryllium tile edges with step sizes over
40µm in high heat flux areas [Thompson] by shaping / shadowing by adjoining tiles [nunes].
Carrier to carrier tolerances were checked on jigs prior to installation using a hand held laser
scanner (GapGun) [gapgun]. These measurements were then repeated in-vessel remotely
using the MASCOT manipulator so that any unexpected deviations could be investigated.
This gives us high confidence that the most critical design parameters have been met.
Notable features of the ITER-like Wall
The completed ITER-like Wall is shown in Fig. 2. Apart from the obvious material changes,
some of the most visible differences to the CFC wall are:
• No bolt holes are visible in the main limiter tiles and the installed modules are larger.
Both of these aspects have helped to maintain the power handling.
• The upper dump plate now consists of ribs rather than a continuous sheet of tiles with
beryllium coated Inconel plates between. This was because the CFC design had poor
tolerance and low area utilisation.
• Half the inner wall guard limiters have recessed centre sections clad with W-coated
CFC or Be coated Inconel. This was driven by the objective to maintain the power
handling in NBI shinethrough areas and decouple it from plasma loads [riccardo].
• The main limiters on the low field side of the machine (wide poloidal limiters) have
optimised large format tiles and therefore lower temperature rise for a given power
density than the thin CFC slices which they replaced [nunes].
• Parallel protection bars made from beryllium replace CFC plates on the lower and
upper inner walls and upper outer wall. Using bars supported by Inconel carriers
reduced the cost and electromagnetic forces without affecting performance.
• A number of dark inner wall guard limiter tiles are visible which are coated with
surface markers for erosion measurements below 10μm. This is just one element of a
complete refurbishment of the erosion deposition diagnostics [rubel], mostly this is a
repeat of previous experiments but some systems have been optimised for the new
materials.
• Fifteen diagnostic conduits were installed remotely along with the six cable looms.
One of the conduits is just visible running along the wall above the inner wall guard
limiters. These were a major challenge to manufacture and install remotely due to their
size and complexity. Extending over one half of the machine, they feed an array of
thermocouples and Langmuir probes in critical areas of the new wall.
• The 48 bulk tungsten tiles each of which weighs 60kg were a major technical
challenge to manufacture [mertens].
3.2 Remote Handling Systems
Due to the radiation level inside JET resulting from activation of the Inconel vacuum vessel,
the ALARP principle has meant that manual work has had to be kept to a minimum. Dose
rates at the beginning of the shutdown were around 300μSv/hr falling to below 100μSv/hr by
the end. There were three short manual interventions for tasks which were not feasible using
remote handling but most of the component removal and installation was carried out in the
four remote handling phases. Total shutdown duration was around 16months. This was only
possible because of rigorous development and testing of the 280 new pieces of tooling
equipment required for the remote handling work and the use of "mock-ups" to refine
hardware and procedures prior to the shutdown.
The efficiency of the in-vessel work also relied heavily on development of a second long
remote handling boom (Octant 1) capable of delivering "Task Modules" loaded with tools and
components to the place of work so the MASCOT manipulator on the existing JET boom
(Octant 5) could work efficiently. Figure 3 gives an overview of the remote handling system.
Components were delivered to or from the boom enclosure using a sealed iso-container or
posting port. Personnel working inside the enclosure in pressurised suits would then populate
the drawers of the task modules with tools and components as required by the plan. The task
modules were then moved into the vessel using a series of pre-programmed moves which
have an accuracy of about 1cm, the tiles and tools are handled by the MASCOT manipulator
which is manually operated and has force feedback. A limit of 10kg was set on the weight of
components which could be handled without addition mechanical support (e.g. 100kg winch).
Figure 3 Overview of the JET remote handling system used to install the ITER-like Wall.
4. Preparation of the 2011/12 JET Programme
Following a call to the EURATOM Fusion Associations participating in JET, 205
experimental proposals were discussed and consolidated following a second general planning
meeting in November 2010 attended by representatives of the Associations, the European
Commission and ITER into 52 main experiments and 37 parasitic experiments. The scope of
the call was defined by the following headlines:
1. Characterisation of the ITER-like Wall
1.1 Fuel retention and material migration
1.2 Material limits and long term samples
1.3 Transient and steady state power loads
2. Exploration of ITER operating scenarios with the ITER-like Wall
2.1 Develop plasma scenarios
2.2 Assess plasmas scenarios
2.3 Explore scenarios in domains closest to ITER dimensionless parameters
3. Physics issues essential to the efficient exploitation of the ILW and ITER
3.1 Divertor and Scrape-Off Layer physics
3.2 Confinement, pedestal and ELM physics
3.3 Disruptions, MHD and fast particle physics
3.4 Diagnostic issues for ITER
In selecting the proposals for execution in 2011/12 considerable weight was given to the most
urgent priorities for ITER for which the new wall materials and other upgraded JET
capabilities would have the greatest impact.
4.1 2011/12 Programme Structure
Previous JET experimental campaigns following shutdowns began with a
restart/commissioning phase where the machine systems are brought close to full performance
followed by a phase of scientific exploitation. Although there have always been specific
themes the campaigns the experiments have been carried out by up to 7 distinct task forces
who worked to a large independently and compete for machine time. In contrast, the there are
only two task forces for exploitation of JET with the new wall. Task Force E1 has its main
focus on expanding operating space and Task Force E2 in full scientific exploitation of that
space. However, the need for full integration of both activities to optimise the achievement of
the programme goals and protect the wall means that in reality the task forces now need a
very close collaboration.
In contrast to recent JET campaigns the whole 2011/12 programme proposed is much more
gradual in expanding performance with commissioning (Restart) phases interleaved with
scientific exploitation as new capabilities such as heating power and protection systems are
released, Fig. 4. The programme progresses from ohmic plasmas to L-mode then low power
H-mode and then expands the H-mode power and current and finally develops the hybrid
scenario. This goes hand in hand with exploring the materials questions, exploring ELM
mitigation and developing steady-state power load mitigation techniques. Such an approach
ensures that there is the maximum scientific return with the least risk to the wall. Exploration
of the ITER relevant issues will also begin right from the machine conditioning phase through
to first plasma and on to full performance and this too sets the new programme apart from its
predecessors. The very first week of operation will study material migration with a pristine
wall which is unique opportunity to start from a well defined baseline surface condition prior
to mixing.
Another very significant difference to previous JET operation is that a remote intervention
into the vessel is planned in the second half of 2012 whose primary purpose is to remove long
term samples for analysis. In the outline plan for the run up to this intervention, two weeks of
JET operation under consistent plasma conditions are scheduled (~2000s of divertor
operation). The aim here is to build up sufficiently thick deposits / fuel inventory that surface
analysis will be capable of resolving them and link them to a specific ITER-relevant scenario.
Fig. 4 Type of phased campaign structure envisaged. Restart phases have an emphasis on
commissioning with some parasitic scientific exploitation.
5. Conclusions
The ITER-like Wall has now been installed in JET and the next big challenge will be to
exploit it fully in support of ITER. To this end, preparation of the 2011/12 experimental
programme is now well advanced and a new task force structure is in place which recognises
the shift to a much more integrated and focused programme and need to minimise the risk to
all metal wall whilst maximising the scientific output. The design of the JET ITER-like wall
has already influenced ITER, for example in the methodology and tools applied to tile
shaping, and this impact is certain to grow as JET returns to operation.
