Efficacy of photon cleaning of JET divertor tiles

Photon cleaning by means of a flash-lamp was used for in-situ detritiation of the inner wall tiles of the JET divertor in May 2004. Additional trials were also performed ex-situ in October 2004 on divertor base tiles. Early work confirmed that for pulse energies between 150 J and 300 J some deposited material was removed. To increase the amount of material removed during photon cleaning, further experiments with higher pulse energies (500 J) were performed and are reported here. Analysis of cross sections confirmed a removal rate of 0.04 μm/pulse, removing ∼80 μm from 200 μm thick deposits over a treatment area of 15 × 10−4 m2. During the photon cleaning tests at least 12% of the tritium inventory for the tile was removed. It was also shown that deuterium was desorbed from a depth ∼7 μm beyond the depth of material removed.