Changeover between helium and hydrogen fueled plasmas in JET and WEST

The pre-fusion power operation (PFPO) phase of ITER, as described in the ITER research plan with Staged Approach, includes both hydrogen (H) and helium (He) plasma operations. In preparation for PFPO, both WEST and JET ran He plasma campaigns to study plasma-wall interactions in a tungsten environment. The campaigns included a back-and-forth transition between H or deuterium (D) and He plasma operation allowing the assessment of the achievable plasma content as well as the accessible wall reservoirs for respective species. The WEST changeovers included tokamak pulses with a fixed divertor configuration. The JET changeovers applied ion cyclotron wall conditioning (ICWC) and tokamak pulses including limiter phases and four different divertor configurations. Glow discharge conditioning (GDC) was applied to complete the changeovers. The results are characterized by subdivertor optical and mass spectrometric gas analyzers and spatially resolved optical emission spectroscopy. A He content of 96–97 % after H operations is achieved by tens of ICWC pulses (JET) and several dedicated diverted plasmas (WEST and JET), while a fivefold is estimated to be required for the back transition. Effective pumping of the wall released species is a key parameter for a fast changeover. Upon applying higher heating power, the relative content of the fueled plasma species decreases. The JET gas balance analysis indicates that He operation may increase H retention. WEST divertor spectroscopy indicates a larger He inventory near the inner divertor strike line. He GDC has a clear effect on the He recycling light at the WEST divertor while D GDC did not reduce the long lasting He content observed in D pulses after the JET He campaign.