The main purpose of the shutdown has been to enable examination of the behaviour of the new ITER-Like Wall during the recent experimental campaign. Marker tiles that were placed in various locations around the vessel have been removed and can now be analysed to see whether the tungsten and beryllium surfaces were eroded, and if so where the eroded material was deposited.

Preliminary results on the ITER-Like Wall’s status will be presented next week at the 14th International Conference on Plasma-Facing Materials. “It’s early days yet, but at the moment the wall seems to be much cleaner than expected!” says Task Force Leader Guy Matthews.

During the shutdown the opportunity was taken to calibrate a number of the instruments, most notably the neutron detectors, and to tune up some of the systems, such as the neutral beam injection heating, ready for the high power experiments planned in the coming campaign.

Bringing an experiment as large and complex as JET back into a readiness for operations is a serious process. Initially there is leak testing and baking the vessel to remove gases adsorbed onto surfaces. Then there is two weeks of dry commissioning of power supplies and heating systems before finally fuel is added and plasma created in the vessel. But still experiments are not performed for another couple of weeks while the engineers ensure all the systems are perfect working order: only after these tests are successfully completed are the scientists able to take over the controls and begin experiments.

The plan has the experimental campaign beginning in early July; just as many people are starting to think about summer holidays, JET’s scientists will be getting into full swing.

“The physics was only a part of the activity,” says Project Leader, Dr Brian Syme. “Obtaining the neutron source, the safety issues and all the engineering developments associated with source handling were three quarters of the project!”

The process sounds simple enough – simply hold a radioactive source that produces a known number of neutrons at a set of known locations in the torus. From the detector counts you have an answer. However to get to that moment took the team three years of careful planning, including intensive neutronics calculations by colleagues in the Slovenian and Swedish associations.

Because the source – Californium-252 – would give a yearly dose to any personnel at 1 metre in about an hour, everything was done using the remote handling system.

“The remote handling system carried the source in a special baton, which was designed and manufactured here,” says Dr Syme. After manufacture the hollow baton was taken to the suppliers of the source, the National Physical Laboratory, who inserted the centimetre-scale Californium source into it, using their own remote handling system. It was then returned to JET inside an industry-standard one tonne polythene ‘transport flask’. This flask was then opened by the remote handling mascot, the baton removed and taken into the torus, to obtain the aforementioned answers.

In addition to the components needed for holding and transferring the source, contingencies needed to be covered, says Dr Syme: “In case something went wrong with the source handling system, a portable safety shield was built, to be carried by the other boom arm. The source would be picked up by that portable shield and transferred out of the vessel to a safe shielded location, so normal repairs could proceed.  But we didn’t need to use it.”

“Yes, everything went really smoothly, experimentally,” says joint project leader Dr Sergey Popovichev. “It was busy running two shifts a day for two weeks but we missed only one of the 375 planned measurements, due to a timing consideration.”

The measurements were made with the source in a range of positions evenly distributed throughout the torus, to simulate neutrons coming from all parts of the plasma. Two systems were calibrated, a time-resolved fission chamber detector system, and an activation system which measures the total number of neutrons produced in a plasma pulse. As a cross-calibration, an independent counting system run by EFDA’s Polish Associate IPPLM was also employed.

Now the detailed task of making sense of the measurements begins, and could take several months. “I won’t make any brave statements about the absolute calibrations at this stage!” smiles Dr Syme. And as to whether there might be any adjustments to previous results of the last few years, the scientists would not be drawn. “The system is so different now, we can really only say that we have made a calibration for the ITER-Like Wall measurements,” says Dr Popovichev.

In addition to the actual data the team has acquired a lot of experience, says Dr Syme. “We have learnt a lot that will be vital for ITER going forwards. Operating in modern times with a sealed JET and a strong emphasis on health and safety, you have to be much more disciplined. It’s not like when JET was first built and you could just about walk straight into the torus!

This Training Course is organised by PQM-NET (“Project & Quality Management Network for the European Fusion Programme”) which is a part of EFDA’s Goal Oriented Training Programme.
According to the Task Agreement one major goal of PQM-NET is “to raise the general level of knowledge of project and quality management amongst the wider body of engineers and scientists involved in ITER related activities within the European Fusion Associations”.

Aims: Supporting European Fusion Associations in Project & Quality Management for ITER-related Contracts by sharing experience acquired.
Outline: Overview of various management tools in use in different Fusion
organisations, e.g. Documentation Management Systems, planning tools,
customised templates, established quality procedures, etc.
(See overleaf for an overview of the lectures)
Target Audience:

• Persons entrusted by their organisation with establishing / operating a
  suitable QMS for ITER-related Contracts (with F4E and ITER-IO)
• Key persons responsible for Project & Quality Management in ITER-related
  Contracts (Grants, Procurements, Service Contracts, etc.), e.g.:
  - Technical Responsible Persons (e.g. “STR” for F4E Contracts)
  - Quality Representatives (e.g. “SQR” for F4E Contracts)

JET Publication site, at the Institute of Physics: www.IOP.org/Jet

Creativity – The Next Generation is a subject dear to the Fusion community’s heart, and is also the 2013 theme of International Intellectual Property Day, which fell on the 26th of April. The creativity of future scientists and engineers is vital to overcoming the challenges of achieving fusion but it can only be built on the knowledge that has been created by the previous generations of researchers. Good management of the vast amounts of intellectual property that has been created through JET’s working life time is crucial to future success.

“We have a very good system,” says Keith Musgrave, head of Culham Publication Services, which designed and built the electronic database of JET’s documents. “You can retrieve documents electronically in minutes, as far back as pre-1990. You can read the abstract before the full download, and request high resolution versions of the figures if needed.”

All of JET’s publications are kept electronically in this central repository, which is hosted by the Institute of Physics; it is housed offsite because if JET were to shut down the documents must subsequently be available for ten years. This server receives 86 000 hits per month, from people searching for current preprints of journal articles or conference papers, right back to historical reports.

“When a paper is published we aim to assign the journal a right to publish, not exclusive copyright; this means that we can reproduce it when we want without restriction. We have such good internal processes, clearing documents through groups and department heads using the pinboard system, that we have an acceptance rate of 97% on submitted papers, so we can post the preprints with confidence,” says Keith Musgrave. “Each document carries the relevant disclaimers and the images are hyperlinked to the latest versions, in case of changes.”

The system also has advantages for the authors, as readers can send feedback directly to the authors through the IOP website. “It gives us a wider peer review potential,” says Mr Musgrave.

The central repository is a valuable system for the fusion community. “Papers get published in many journals, people go back to their countries and publish in their own languages – it would be impossible to keep track.” All the papers are fully text-searchable, making it easy for people to find exactly what they need, says Mr Musgrave. “For instance, with ITER in its design phase we’re getting a lot of requests for documents from the nineties, when we ran our tritium campaigns!”

Not all the countries waited for the treaty, however. For example Romania’s fusion scientists had already been collaborating with its western European colleagues for a long time and joined the new EFDA shortly after it formed in 1999, tells Romanian physicist, Vasile (Liviu) Zoita.

“Joining EFDA changed Romanian fusion research a lot – it gave it a recognised purpose. Until then we had to work like mad to get funding for what was considered over there as very nice basic research. Now there were open questions to be answered at the level of the European fusion programme, we could address those questions and thus we now had a clear purpose for our fusion research. You could never build a fusion reactor in Romania, but you could engage successfully in a project like the JET ITER-Like Wall.”

The seed money that came with participation in an EU programme was also vital, says Liviu Zoita. “Once the Commission gives you 20% funding for your proposal, the Government will give you the other 80%, sometimes even more,” he says. “But, without it, nothing.”

Other Accession countries, such as the Czech Republic, also had mature fusion research programmes which could be integrated readily and expanded successfully within the EU fusion programme, says Dr Michael Watkins, who was involved in bringing new countries into the EFDA-JET programme. In particular, he was strongly involved in stimulating Polish interest in JET: “Right from the outset, it was clear that to utilise their high level of technical expertise to the full benefit of the European fusion programme required a long-term vision and strong commitment on their side; the size of the necessary change required could not be underestimated.”

The intervening years have shown that such vision and commitment were there in abundance. For example, the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion (one of twelve institutes in Poland that now make a coordinated contribution to the EU fusion programme) has shifted its focus from dense plasmas towards larger, less dense magnetically confined experiments. “They now make major contributions to Wendelstein 7-X, JET and other European tokamaks, with activities ranging from construction and enhancements to operation and experimental research,” says Dr Watkins.

The addition of the new labs has been important says Liviu Zoita: “These small labs can provide a really substantive contribution, because they have expertise that is not found anywhere else.” His home association, the Fusion Research Unit within Romania’s Ministry of Education and Research, was vital in the development of the technology for coating JET’s carbon-fibre divertor tiles with tungsten – earning a letter of thanks from the European Commision for their timely contribution.

Ten years on a similar transition is happening as the fusion programmes from the seven ITER nations come together to build a shared purpose – experience tells us that, although there may be challenges to overcome during this transition, the parts will sum to make a greater whole.

A long-term perspective on fusion is mandatory since Europe has a leading position in this field and major expectations have grown in other ITER parties on fusion as a sustainable and secure energy source. China, for example, is launching an aggressive programme aimed at fusion electricity production well before 2050. Europe can keep the pace only if it focuses its effort and pursues a pragmatic approach to fusion energy. With this objective EFDA has elaborated the present roadmap.

Focussing on the research and engineering activities needed to achieve fusion electricity, the roadmap shows that these can be carried out within a reasonable budget. The amount of resources proposed are of the same level as those originally recommended for the seventh European Research Framework Programme – outside the European investment in the ITER construction.

The roadmap covers three periods: The upcoming European Research Framework Programme Horizon 2020, the years 2021-2030 and the time between 2031 and 2050.

ITER is the key facility of the roadmap as it is expected to achieve most of the important milestones on the path to fusion power. Thus, the vast majority of resources proposed for Horizon 2020 are dedicated to ITER and its accompanying experiments. The second period is focussed on maximising ITER exploitation and on preparing the construction of a demonstration power plant DEMO, which will for the first time supply fusion electricity to the grid. Building and operating DEMO is the subject of the last roadmap phase.

In the course of the roadmap implementation, the fusion programme will move from being laboratory-based and science-driven towards an industry- and technology-driven venture. ITER construction already generates a turnover of about six billion euro. The design, construction and operation of DEMO requires full involvement of industry to ensure that, after a successful DEMO operation, industry can take responsibility for commercial fusion power.

The base is a 250-ton structure made of low-cobalt stainless steel that will support the complete tokamak. Together with an upper section the base will form a vacuum enclosure around the vacuum vessel and coils, allowing them to be cooled to low temperatures required by JT60-SA’s superconducting coils.

Guests at JT60-SA’s first component ceremony are dwarfed by the huge circular cryostat base.

“Every project brings to you some new challenges.” says Joaquin Sanchez, head of research unit at CIEMAT. “On the one side, the need adapt the structure to the existing support basis at the JT60 building, which consists of two concentric rings. On the other side we have to guarantee the geometric stability of the upper part in order to preserve the vacuum tightness of the cryostat. This second requirement was a problem due to the fact that the upper ring of the base has to be in contact with elements at different  temperatures: the TF coil supports, and the vacuum vessel supports.”  However CIEMAT’s team of mechanical engineers was equal to the task, says Dr Sanchez: “We have been working on mechanical analysis & design problems for ITER and DEMO for a long time.”

The cryostat base was completed under the Broader Approach agreement between Japan and Europe. It was constructed by the company IDESA, located in Aviles, in the North of Spain, taking approximately 20 months.

CIEMAT is the Spanish signatory to EFDA.

If you are an EU or Swiss national, aged between 18-25 years, following university studies and with a good knowledge of at least two Community languages (one of which should be English), you are eligible to apply. The summer studentship programme, which is now in its fourth year, provides short-term training at the F4E offices in Barcelona in order to promote awareness, knowledge and understanding of F4E’s role in the ITER project and within the European context.

more information

Programme
The course will cover the main aspects of plasma physics with emphasis on nuclear fusion. The following lectures will be offered:
Basics of plasma physics and of nuclear fusion – kinetic and magneto-hydrodynamic description of a plasma – concepts, experimental results of tokamaks and stellarators – heating and diagnostics of a fusion device – plasma wall interaction and wall material research –safety and environmental aspects of fusion – inertial fusion – astrophysical plasmas – ITER and the next steps towards a reactor.

Venue of the summer university is the Greifswald branch of the Max-Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) where the superconducting stellarator experiment Wendelstein 7-X is under construction. The course will include a tour to the laboratories and to Wendelstein 7-X and its periphery.

One goal of the Summer University is to promote an exchange of views among the coming generation of European scientists. Opportunities for discussions with lecturers and students will be provided between the sessions, in the evening and during an excursion.

for more information visit this link.