Power handling of the JET ITER-like wall

Abstract

The ITER-like wall (ILW) at JET provides a unique opportunity to study the combination of material (beryllium and tungsten) that will be used for the plasma facing components (PFCs) in ITER. Both the limiters (Be) and divertor (CFC W coated and bulk W) have been designed to maximize their power handling capability. During the last experimental campaign (October 2010–July 2011) this capability has been assessed and even challenged in the case of the Be wall. The Be limiters' power handling capability (19 MW m −2 s −1/2 ), predicted with a simple model, has been proven to be robust by the experiments despite an unexpected power load pattern. This capability has been pushed to its limit leading to Be melt events, which revealed that the power load is toroidally asymmetric. The protection system of the ILW did not prevent melt events mainly because the protection strategy relies on the assumption that the power load is toroidally symmetric. The bulk W divertor target performed as predicted. Operations were constrained by: (i) an energy load limit (60 MJ m −2 ); (ii) the limited number of cycles of the surface temperature above 1200 °C in order to prevent thermal fatigue. This latter limit has been exceeded about 300 times and no signs of damage or thermal fatigue have been observed by the photogrammetric survey.