Technical rehearsal of tritium operation at JET

• Published in: Fusion engineering and design 2017-11, Vol.123, p.196-200
• Main Authors: Belonohy, Eva, Baker, Arron, Balshaw, Nick, Bernardo, Joao, Blatchford, Peter, Camp, Patrick, Cane, Jenny, Ciric, Dragoslav, Craven, Richard, Emery, Sean, Felton, Robert, Gee, Steve, Graham, Bill, Haupt, Tony, Hotchin, Simon, Jones, Graham, Keeling, David, Jones, Timothy, Keenan, Tom, Knipe, Stuart, McAdams, Roy, Rimini, Fernanda, Sips, Adrianus, Warren, Robert, Zastrow, Klaus-Dieter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Deuterium; Emergency procedures; Fusion; Hydrogen; JET; Joint European Torus; Nuclear power plants; Nuclear reactors; Nuclear research; Operation; Oxygen; Prototypes; Radioisotopes; Tokamak; Toruses; Tritium
• ISSN: 0920-3796; 1873-7196
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2017.01.056

•In preparation for the future tritium and deuterium-tritium campaigns at JET, a rehearsal of the procedures and technical systems was performed.•The rehearsal included commissioning and characterisation of the NBI performance with a tritium-like gas feed configuration.•A prototype tritium introduction module was tested and the torus hall depression and oxygen depletion system commissioning was started.•The rehearsal also included emergency exercises, training of personnel, testing and optimising operational procedures.•The rehearsal demonstrated that JET is still capable of operating with tritium in a safe and reliable manner. The final phase of the JET Programme in Support of ITER plans to operate with 100% tritium (TT) followed by deuterium-tritium (DT) operation, to help minimise risks and delays in the execution of the ITER Research Plan and the achievement of a fusion gain Q∼10. In preparation for tritium operation, an 8-week technical rehearsal of the procedures and systems is being executed in 2015-16. The aim is to commission (in deuterium or hydrogen) and characterise the NBI performance with a tritium-like gas feed configuration, test the prototype tritium introduction module, commission the torus hall depression and oxygen depletion system, carry out emergency exercises, train personnel and to test and optimise operational procedures. The rehearsal demonstrated that JET is still capable of operating with tritium in a safe and reliable manner, and most importantly, provided operational experience and lead to recommendations for the preparation of these future tritium campaigns on JET.