On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Correlations Between Jupiter's X-ray Aurora and the Outer Magnetosphere Plasma Sheet

Jupiter produces dynamic X-ray auroral emissions at both of its poles [e.g Gladstone et al. 2002; Cravens et al. 2003; Elsner et al. 2005; Branduardi-Raymont et al. 2004; 2007; Dunn et al. 2017]. These consist of two main components: 1. a lower latitude bremsstrahlung emission from precipitating electrons along the UV main emission [Branduardi-Raymont et al. 2004; 2008] and 2. a more dominant poleward emission from the precipitation of highly energetic ions [e.g. Elsner et al. 2005; Branduardi-Raymont et al. 2007]. These emissions are often observed to pulse, sometimes erratically and sometimes with a regular beat (e.g. Jackman et al. 2018). For much of the last two decades, these remote signatures of energetic ion precipitations have been interpreted as indicators of the processes at Jupiter's cusp and/or Jupiter's return current system [e.g. Bunce et al. 2004; Cravens et al. 2003]. Here, we report on an extensive campaign totalling hundreds of hours of Jupiter observations by XMM-Newton that were conducted coincident with in-situ measurements of Jupiter by NASAs Juno mission. By comparing data from XMM-Newton and Junos JEDI, WAVES and MAG instruments, we identify strong correlations between events at 50- 70 Jupiter radii in the outer magnetosphere and Jupiter's X-ray auroral emissions. Strangely, these correlations connect the dawn and night-side magnetosphere with the aurora and not the expected noon magnetosphere [Dunn et al. 2016; Kimura et al. 2016]. We finish by leveraging our understanding of the UV emissions to interpret the triggers of these processes

JET experience on managing radioactive waste and implications for ITER

The reduced radiotoxicity and half-life of radioactive waste arisings from nuclear fusion reactors as compared to current fission reactors is one of the key benefits of nuclear fusion. As a result of the research programme at the Joint European Torus (JET), significant experience on the management of radioactive waste has been gained which will be of benefit to ITER and the nuclear fusion community.The successful management of radioactive waste is dependent on accurate and efficient tracking and characterisation of waste streams. To accomplish this all items at JET which are removed from radiological areas are identified and pre-characterised, by recording the radiological history, before being removed from or moved between radiological areas. This system ensures a history of each item is available when it is finally consigned as radioactive waste and also allows detailed forecasting of future arisings. All radioactive waste generated as part of JET operations is transferred to dedicated, on-site, handling facilities for further sorting, sampling and final streaming for off-site disposal. Tritium extraction techniques including leaching, combustion and thermal treatment followed by liquid scintillation counting are used to determine tritium content.Recent changes to government legislation and Culham specific disposal permit conditions have allowed CCFE to adopt additional disposal routes for fusion wastes requiring new treatment and analysis techniques. Facilities currently under construction include a water de-tritiation facility and a materials de-tritiation facility, both of which are relevant for ITER. The procedures used to manage radioactive waste from generation to off-site disposal have been assessed for relevance to ITER and a number have been shown to be significant. The procedures and de-tritiation factors demonstrated by radioactive waste treatment plants currently under construction will be important to tritium recovery and waste minimisation in ITER and DEMO

COREDIV and SOLPS Numerical Simulations of the Nitrogen Seeded JET ILW L-mode Discharges

In this paper we present the comparison of simulations with the numerical codes COREDIV and SOLPS5.0 for JET L-mode discharges with ITER like wall (ILW). The simulations have been performed for L-mode shots with and without nitrogen seeding (#82291 - 9) which are characterised by relatively low auxiliary heating power (PNBI = 1.1 MW) and low electron density (ne = 2.35 × 1019 m–3). Comparisons are made to the experimental measurements (e.g. radiation levels, plasma profiles) and the differences between the results from the two codes (e.g. temperature and density profiles at the outer divertor plate) are shown and discussed

An FPGA-based bolometer for the MAST-U Super-X divertor

A new resistive bolometer system has been developed for MAST-Upgrade. It will measure radiated power in the new Super-X divertor, with millisecond time resolution, along 16 vertical and 16 horizontal lines of sight. The system uses a Xilinx Zynq-7000 series Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) in the D-TACQ ACQ2106 carrier to perform real time data acquisition and signal processing. The FPGA enables AC-synchronous detection using high performance digital filtering to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio and will be able to output processed data in real time with millisecond latency. The system has been installed on 8 previously unused channels of the JET vertical bolometer system. Initial results suggest good agreement with data from existing vertical channels but with higher bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio

Sawtooth pacing with on-axis ICRH modulation in JET-ILW

A novel technique for sawteeth control in tokamak plasmas using ion-cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) has been developed in the JET-ILW tokamak. Unlike previous ICRH methods, that explored the destabilization of the internal kink mode when the radio-frequency (RF) wave absorption was placed near the q = 1 surface, the technique presented here consists of stabilizing the sawteeth as fast as possible by applying the ICRH power centrally and subsequently induce a sawtooth crash by switching it off at the appropriate instant. The validation of this method in JET-ILW L-mode discharges, including preliminary tests in H-mode plasmas, is presented

Hybrid cancellation of ripple disturbances arising in AC/DC converters

In AC/DC converters, a peculiar periodic nonsmooth waveform arises, the so-called ripple. In this paper we propose a novel model that captures this nonsmoothness by means of a hybrid dynamical system performing state jumps at certain switching instants, and we illustrate its properties with reference to a three phase diode bridge rectifier. As the ripple corrupts an underlying desirable signal, we propound two observer schemes ensuring asymptotic estimation of the ripple, the first with and the second without knowledge of the switching instants. Our theoretical developments are well placed in the context of recent techniques for hybrid regulation and constitute a contribution especially for our second observer, where the switching instants are estimated. Once asymptotic estimation of the ripple is achieved, the ripple can be conveniently canceled from the desirable signal, and thanks to the inherent robustness properties of the proposed hybrid formulation, the two observer schemes require only that the desirable signal is slowly time varying compared to the ripple. Exploiting this fact, we illustrate the effectiveness of our second hybrid observation law on experimental data collected from the Joint European Torus tokamak

A prototype fully digital data acquisition system upgrade for the TOFOR neutron spectrometer at JET

A prototype of a fully digital data acquisition system upgrade for the TOFOR time-of-flight fusion neutron spectrometer at JET has been implemented and evaluated. The core of the system is composed of five fast PXIe waveform digitisers (1 GSPS, 12 bits) with large internal fast memory (1 GB). Due to the complexity and high requirements on timing precision of the spectrometer, the design and implementation of such a system poses numerous technical challenges, in particular regarding time alignment and synchronisation of signal paths and digitiser modules. These issues and their solutions, as pertaining to the TOFOR spectrometer, are presented in detail in the present paper. As a final assessment of the ability of the new data acquisition system to reproduce the capabilities of the original TOFOR system, a thorough comparison of results produced using both systems is presented. The comparison with TOFOR has been performed with satisfying results. Two immediate advantages of the new data acquisition system are significantly improved triggering dead time (from about 70 ns to 10 ns) and the ability to adjust the triggering thresholds as needed during the analysis step. The enhanced spectroscopic capabilities of the new data acquisition system will be reported on in future publications