Joint European Torus - Annual report 1996
The 1996 annual report of the Joint European Torus (JET) joint undertaking is now available. This provides an overview of the scientific, technical and administrative status of the JET programme. The JET project, which was started in 1978, is the largest project in the EURATOM Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion programme. Its principal aim is to define the essential requirements of a tokamak reactor, in particular through the creation and study of plasma in near-reactor conditions. The four major areas of work of the project are: - The study of scaling of plasma behaviour as parameters approach the reactor range; - The study of plasma-wall interaction in these conditions; - The study of plasma heating; - The study of alpha-particle production, confinement and consequent plasma heating. In addition, JET is pioneering two key technologies required in fusion reactors: the use of tritium and remote handling techniques. At the start of 1996, JET entered the ITER-EDA (Engineering Design Activities) Support Phase of its International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Support Programme. The year began in shutdown for the installation of the Mark II divertor support structure which will be the basis for all future divertor work at JET and the key to the JET programme up to 1999. In addition, the "more-closed" Mark IIA divertor target assembly was also installed during the shutdown and work was undertaken on various systems in preparation for the next period of D-T operation. Shutdown was completed on schedule at the end of March 1996. The 1996 experimental campaign then concentrated on specific ITER-relevant issues related to the "more-closed" Mark IIA divertor and, due to their importance for predicting ITER's ignition margin and fusion power output, the scaling of the H-mode threshold power and energy confinement.