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OECD/NEA Data Bank E-Newsletter

No. 3, October 2008

On 1 October, a questionnaire concerning the Data Bank was sent out to the delegates of member countries (all members of the Executive Group of the Nuclear Science Committee: the Data Bank management committee). This questionnaire was prepared for the first step in the revision process of the Data Bank part of the next NEA Strategic Plan, a new six-year plan.

The Physor'08, International Conference on the Physics of Reactors, organised by PSI in collaboration with NEA, was held in Interlaken, Switzerland from 14-19 September 2008. Many NEA related works especially in relation with NSC were presented and discussed. As to the nuclear data conference track, the recent release of new versions of the major evaluated data libraries showed a significant performance improvement, nevertheless data improvements are still needed for the data of actinides particularly minor-actinide cross-sections and fission spectra. Renewed interest was also observed in covariance matrices. Many industrial applications of Nuclear Data and calculation methods in reactor physics for power plants were presented and discussed. Specific sessions were devoted to benchmark studies carried out under the aegis of OECD/NEA.


Content:
  1. Nuclear data and tools
  2. Processed data libraries
  3. Chemical thermodynamics data
  4. Computer programs
  5. Integral experiments data
  6. Benchmarks
  7. Training courses and workshops
  8. Conferences
  9. Other items

1. Nuclear data and tools

A Nuclear Reaction Data Centres (NRDC) meeting was held in Obninsk, Russia on 22-25 September 2008. The topic of quality control of EXFOR and CINDA, experimental and bibliographical databases, was discussed extensively. The development of user feedback pages was decided as a way of identifying EXFOR entries containing possible errors. This will be helpful for creating a new data base that only contains correct EXFOR entries, which will be a useful tool for the evaluators of nuclear data.

2. Processed data libraries

Recently acquired or tested application data libraries:

For a full list of processed cross-section data libraries visit www.oecd-nea.org/dbprog/categ-z.html.

For the most recent updates to NJOY, a data processing system of evaluated nuclear data files in ENDF format, visit www.oecd-nea.org/dbprog/njoy-links.html.

For additional information on processing nuclear data (tools, libraries, workshops, …) please visit our website www.oecd-nea.org/dbdata/process/index.html.


3. Chemical thermodynamics data

4. Computer Programs

The most recently acquired or tested computer codes and application data libraries are:

For more details see the daily updated list at www.oecd-nea.org/dbprog/cpsnew.html.

5. Integral experiments data


Radiation shielding
Reactor physics
The March 2008 edition of the International Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments (IRPHE) Project handbook is now available at www.oecd-nea.org/science/wprs/irphe/.
The next IRPhE review meeting preparing the 2009 edition of the IRPhE Handbook is scheduled for October 2008.

Criticality
The 2008 edition of the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) was released in September. You may request a DVD by accessing the ICSBEP webpsite.


6. Benchmarks



7. Training courses and workshops


8. Conferences


Meetings and conferences sponsored by the Nuclear Science Committee & Data Bank


9. Other items


Information on joint research projects related to nuclear safety
A steam explosion experiments (STEX) database is now ready International Steam Explosion Experimental Data Base). The University of Wisconsin and the NEA Nuclear Safety Division are working together on this project.