Conclusion

The overview presented in this article shows how the evaluation of nuclear data is a complex process, integrating both a wide range of theoretical and experimental aspects. The latter are used both to provide input data for the various models and to validate them; this approach has been adopted to build today's libraries (e.g. JEFF3.3 and ENDF/B-VIII). These libraries show significant progress compared to previous generations.

This discipline, at the frontier between nuclear physics and applications, must respect the specific features of both: drawing on the best scientific knowledge and enabling high-quality numerical simulation of nuclear facilities.

As we have seen, the use of different, more or less interlocking models enables an increasingly reliable and predictive representation of core behavior. However, there is still a considerable...