The art of collecting experimental data internationally: EXFOR, CINDA and the NRDC network

Abstract

The world-wide network of nuclear reaction data centers (NRDC) has, for about 40 years, provided data services to the scientific community. This network covers all types of nuclear reaction data, including neutron-induced, charged-particle-induced, and photonuclear data, used in a wide range of applications, such as fission reactors, accelerator driven systems, fusion facilities, nuclear medicine, materials analysis, environmental monitoring, and basic research. The now 13 nuclear data centers included in the NRDC are dividing the efforts of compilation and distribution for particular types of reactions and/or geographic regions all over the world. A central activity of the network is the collection and compilation of experimental nuclear reaction data and the related bibliographic information in the EXFOR and CINDA databases. Many of the individual data centers also distribute other types of nuclear data information, including evaluated data libraries, nuclear structure and decay data, and nuclear data reports. The network today ensures the world-wide transfer of information and coordinated evolution of an important source of nuclear data for current and future nuclear applications.