The JET 2019-2020 scientific and technological programme exploited the results of years of concerted scientific and engineering work, including the ITER-like wall (ILW: Be wall and W divertor) installed in 2010, improved diagnostic capabilities now fully available, a major Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) upgrade providing record power in 2019-2020, and tested the technical & procedural preparation for safe operation with tritium. Research along three complementary axes yielded a wealth of new results. Firstly, the JET plasma programme delivered scenarios suitable for high fusion power and alpha particle physics in the coming D-T campaign (DTE2), with record sustained neutron rates, as well as plasmas for clarifying the impact of isotope mass on plasma core, edge and plasma-wall interactions, and for ITER pre-fusion power operation. The efficacy of the newly installed Shattered Pellet Injector for mitigating disruption forces and runaway electrons was demonstrated. Secondly, research on the consequences of long-term exposure to JET-ILW plasma was completed, with emphasis on wall damage and fuel retention, and with analyses of wall materials and dust particles that will help validate assumptions and codes for design & operation of ITER and DEMO. Thirdly, the nuclear technology programme aiming to deliver maximum technological return from operations in D, T and D-T benefited from the highest D-D neutron yield in years, securing results for validating radiation transport and activation codes, and nuclear data for ITER.

The effects of neutron and ion irradiations on deuterium (D) retention in tungsten (W) were investigated. Specimens of pure W were irradiated with neutrons to 0.3 dpa at around 323 K and then exposed to high-flux D plasma at 473 and 773 K. The concentration of D significantly increased by neutron irradiation and reached 0.8 at% at 473K and 0.4 at% at 773 K. Annealing tests for the specimens irradiated with 20 MeV W ions showed that the defects which play a dominant role in the trapping at high temperature were stable at least up to 973 K, while the density decreased at temperatures equal to or above 1123 K. These observations of the thermal stability of traps and the activation energy for D detrapping examined in a previous study (≈1.8 eV) indicated that the defects which contribute predominantly to trapping at 773 K were small voids. The higher concentration of trapped D at 473 K was explained by additional contributions of weaker traps. The release of trapped D was clearly enhanced by the exposure to atomic hydrogen at 473 K, though higher temperatures are more effective for using this effect for tritium removal in fusion reactors.2

Alpha particles with energies on the order of megaelectronvolts will be the main source of plasma heating in future magnetic confinement fusion reactors. Instead of heating fuel ions, most of the energy of alpha particles is transferred to electrons in the plasma. Furthermore, alpha particles can also excite Alfvénic instabilities, which were previously considered to be detrimental to the performance of the fusion device. Here we report improved thermal ion confinement in the presence of megaelectronvolts ions and strong fast ion-driven Alfvénic instabilities in recent experiments on the Joint European Torus. Detailed transport analysis of these experiments reveals turbulence suppression through a complex multi-scale mechanism that generates large-scale zonal flows. This holds promise for more economical operation of fusion reactors with dominant alpha particle heating and ultimately cheaper fusion electricity.

Tungsten samples were irradiated by neutrons in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), Oak Ridge National Laboratory at reactor coolant temperatures of 50-70 • C to low displacement damage of 0.025 and 0.3 dpa. After cooling down, the HFIR neutronirradiated tungsten samples were exposed to deuterium plasmas in the Tritium Plasma Experiment, Idaho National Laboratory at 100, 200 and 500 • C twice at the ion fluence of 5 × 10 25 m −2 to reach the total ion fluence of 1 × 10 26 m −2 in order to investigate the near-surface deuterium retention and saturation via nuclear reaction analysis. Final thermal desorption spectroscopy was performed to elucidate the irradiation effect on total deuterium retention. Nuclear reaction analysis results showed that the maximum near-surface (<5 µm depth) deuterium concentration increased from 0.5 at% D/W in 0.025 dpa samples to 0.8 at% D/W in 0.3 dpa samples. The large discrepancy between the total retention via thermal desorption spectroscopy and the nearsurface retention via nuclear reaction analysis indicated the deuterium was trapped in bulk (at least 50 µm depth for 0.025 dpa and 35 µm depth for 0.3 dpa) at 500 • C cases even in the relatively low ion fluence of 10 26 m −2 .

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