Studies in JET diverters of varied geometry. I: Non-seeded plasma operation

Results of experiments investigating the performance of the JET Mark IIA di vertor are reported and compared with the performance of its Mark I predece ssor. The principal effect of reducing the divertor width (increasing closu re) was to increase pumping for both deuterium and impurities while reducin g upstream neutral pressure. Neither the orientation of the divertor target relative to the divertor plasma nor the width of the divertor had a major influence on core plasma performance in ELMy H modes. Changing the core tri angularity and thus the edge magnetic shear modifies the ELM frequency in E LMy H mode plasmas, thereby changing the peak divertor power loading. The i ntegrated performance of the core and divertor plasmas is reviewed with a v iew to extrapolation to the requirements of ITER. The confinement of JET EL MS H modes with hot, medium density edges is good (H-97 approximate to 1) a nd follows a gyro-Bohm scaling. The impurity content of these discharges is low and within the ITER requirements. When an attempt is made to raise the density with deuterium gas fuelling, the ELM frequency increases and the c onfinement, especially in the edge, decreases. Good confinement can be achi eved in JET either by producing a large edge pedestal, typically in dischar ges with NE heating or by centrally peaked heating with ICRH schemes. Large amplitude type I ELMs, which are present in all discharges with a large ed ge pedestal, would result in unacceptable divertor plate erosion when scale d to ITER. Since the power deposition profile due to a heating in ITER is c alculated to be intermediate between the JET NE and RF heating profiles, it is likely that operation in ITER with small ELMs in order to reduce first wall loading will result in degraded confinement compared with present day scaling laws.