{"id":3062,"date":"2018-07-25T08:47:59","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T06:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/?p=3062"},"modified":"2018-07-25T08:47:59","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T06:47:59","slug":"visit-to-jet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/2018\/07\/25\/visit-to-jet\/","title":{"rendered":"Visit to JET"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
JET – Aerial view. Photo: EFDA-JET<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the two-week Culham\u00a0Plasma Physics Summer School\u00a0<\/a>organized at\u00a0Culham Science Center<\/a>,\u00a0UK, one of the most expected moments is the visit to\u00a0Joint European Torus<\/a> (JET)<\/b>. JET is\u00a0the world’s largest operational magnetically confined plasma physics experiment.\u00a0It is based on a tokamak design and is the direct predecessor to ITER<\/a>, which should be operative in 2025.<\/p>\n

JET runs only during some seconds at\u00a0the time and thereafter it must rest about 20min before a new run. In a good operative day, about 20 runs are carried out<\/strong>. These runs are made for experimentation and no electricity is produced. However, a lot of energy is required (about a 1% of the total energy used\u00a0at a\u00a0given moment in the UK).\u00a0This is why a direct phone line from London\u00a0to the JET\u00a0control room can ring\u00a0at any moment, kindly requesting to stop experiments.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 1: Finally, visiting JET!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since\u00a0the JET flag-ship campaign with a fusion-reactor-relevant deuterium-tritium fuel mixture in 1997, no deuterium-tritium fusion experiment has been done.\u00a0\u00a0Preparations for\u00a0a new\u00a0deuterium-tritium campaign are on their way<\/strong>\u00a0 in order to reduce the gap to\u00a0ITER<\/a> operations.<\/p>\n

There are two main ways to heat the plasma inside the device, as shown in figure 2. On the one hand, using radio-frequency<\/strong> (similar to how a microwave heats food); and on the hard the Neutral Beam Injection (NBI)<\/strong>, which consist in injecting a beam of high-energy neutral particles and is considered the most powerful option.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 2: Scale model where the two heat options (radio-frequency and NBI) are represented.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At\u00a0Culham there are two identical JET tokamaks.\u00a0But only one is real. The other is a 1:1 replica for training staff, tours or even TV shows.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Figure 3: Two yellow doors are in charge of isolating the device when this is operating.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although fusion is much safer than fission<\/strong> (it does not create chain reactions, long-term radioactive isotopes and plasma cannot survive more than some seconds),\u00a0it generates high-energy neutrons<\/strong>, which are safety hazard. When\u00a0JET is operating, two gigantic yellow doors remain locked, hiding away and isolating the device, a shown in figure 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the two-week Culham\u00a0Plasma Physics Summer School\u00a0organized at\u00a0Culham Science Center,\u00a0UK, one of the most expected moments is the visit to\u00a0Joint European Torus (JET). JET is\u00a0the world’s largest operational magnetically confined plasma physics experiment.\u00a0It is based on a tokamak design and is the direct predecessor to ITER, which should be operative in 2025. JET runs only … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-group","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3062"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3078,"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3062\/revisions\/3078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusion.bsc.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}