JET is used as a test bed for ITER, to investigate beryllium migration which connects the lifetime of first-wall components under erosion with tokamak safety, in relation to long-term fuel retention. The (i) limiter and the (ii) divertor configurations have been studied in JET-ILW (JET with a Be first wall and W divertor), and compared with those for the former JET-C (JET with carbon-based plasma-facing components (PFCs)). (i) For the limiter configuration, the Be gross erosion at the contact point was determined in situ by spectroscopy as between 4% (E in = 35 eV) and more than 100%, caused by Be self-sputtering (E in = 200 eV). Chemically assisted physical sputtering via BeD release has been identified to contribute to the effective Be sputtering yield, i.e. at E in = 75 eV, erosion was enhanced by about 1/3 with respect to the bare physical sputtering case. An effective gross yield of 10% is on average representative for limiter plasma conditions, whereas a factor of 2 difference between the gross erosion and net erosion, determined by post-mortem analysis, was found. The primary impurity source in the limiter configuration in JET-ILW is only 25% higher (in weight) than that for the JET-C case. The main fraction of eroded Be stays within the main chamber. (ii) For the divertor configuration, neutral Be and BeD from physically and chemically assisted physical sputtering by charge exchange neutrals and residual ion flux at the recessed wall enter the plasma, ionize and are transported by scrape-off layer flows towards the inner divertor where significant net deposition takes place. The amount of Be eroded at the first wall (21 g) and the Be amount deposited in the inner divertor (28 g) are in fair agreement, though the balancing is as yet incomplete due to the limited analysis of PFCs. The primary impurity source in the JET-ILW is a factor of 5.3 less in comparison with that for JET-C, resulting in lower divertor material deposition, by more than one order of magnitude. Within the divertor, Be performs far fewer re-erosion and transport steps than C due to an energetic threshold for Be sputtering, and inhibits as a result of this the transport to the divertor floor and the pump duct entrance. The target plates in the JET-ILW inner divertor represent at the strike line a permanent net erosion zone, in contrast to the net deposition zone in JET-C with thick carbon deposits on the CFC (carbon-fibre composite) plates. The Be migration identified is consistent with the observed low long-term fuel retention and dust production with the JET-ILW.

No abstract

Erosion and deposition were studied in the JET divertor during the first JET ITER-like wall campaign 2011-2012 using marker tiles. An almost complete poloidal section consisting of tiles 0, 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 was studied. The data from divertor tile surfaces were completed by the analysis of samples from remote divertor areas and from the inner wall cladding. The total mass of material deposited in the divertor decreased by a factor of 4-9 compared to the deposition of carbon during all-carbon JET operation before 2010. Deposits in 2011-2012 consist mainly of beryllium with 5-20 at.% of carbon and oxygen, respectively, and small amounts of Ni, Cr, Fe and W. This decrease of material deposition in the divertor is accompanied by a decrease of total deuterium retention inside the JET vessel by a factor of 10-20. The detailed erosion/deposition pattern in the divertor with the ITER-like wall 2 configuration shows rigorous changes compared to the pattern with the all-carbon JET configuration.