Divertor radiation profiles, and power and particle fluxes to the target have been measured in attached JET L-mode plasmas with carbon and beryllium/tungsten wall materials. In the beryllium/tungsten configuration, factors of 2 to 3 higher power loads and peak temperatures at the low field side target were observed in high-recycling scrape-off layer conditions, while in close-to-sheath-limited conditions almost identical plasmas were obtained. The 30% reduction in total radiation with the beryllium/tungsten wall is consistent with a reduction of carbon as the dominant impurity radiator; however similar ion current to the plates, emission from recycling neutrals and neutral pressures in the pumping plenum were measured. Simulations with the EDGDE2/EIRENE code of these plasmas indicate a reduction of the total divertor radiation when carbon is omitted, but significantly higher power loads in high-recycling and detached conditions are predicted than measured.