The National Nuclear Data Center is an organization based in the

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...

that acts as a repository for data regarding

nuclear chemistry Nuclear chemistry is the sub-field of chemistry dealing with radioactivity, nuclear processes, and transformations in the nuclei of atoms, such as nuclear transmutation and nuclear properties. It is the chemistry of radioactive elements such as ...

, such as nuclear structure, decay, and

reaction Reaction may refer to a process or to a response to an action, event, or exposure: Physics and chemistry *Chemical reaction *Nuclear reaction * Reaction (physics), as defined by Newton's third law *Chain reaction (disambiguation). Biology and m ...

data, as well as historical information regarding previous experiments and literature. According to the ResearchGATE scientific network, "The National Nuclear Data Center NNDC collects, evaluates, and disseminates nuclear physics data for basic nuclear research and applied nuclear technologies." The current Center Head is Dr. Alejandro Sonzogni.

History

The predecessor group to the NNDC was founded in 1951 when a group known as the Brookhaven Neutron Cross Section Compilation Group was formed at the

. In 1955 this group published the reference book "BNL-325," which had to do with the cross-sections of neutrons. After being renamed the Sigma Center, the group was moved to the Reactor Physics Division of the Nuclear Engineering Department in the Brookhaven Lab in 1960. At around that time, the Cross Section Evaluation Group was formed in the same division, and the two groups worked closely together and shared support personnel. In 1964, nuclear theorist Dr. Charles Porter, head of the Cross Section Evaluation Group, died, and Dr. John Stehn, head of the Sigma Center, ended up becoming the acting head of both the Sigma Center and the Group. 1967 saw the two groups merge into the National Neutron Cross Section Center (NNCSC), with Dr. Sol Pearlstein as acting director, officially being appointed Director of the NNCSC in 1968. In 1977, the Center was given the additional responsibility for nuclear structure and decay data by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), the predecessor of the Department of Energy, and its name was then changed to the National Nuclear Data Center. Dr. Charles Dunford served as Center Head from 1992 to 2002, with the exception of a two-year leave of absence (1993-1995) when he served as Section Head for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Data Section. During his leave of absence Mulki Bhat was named Acting Center Head. Since then, the head has been succeeded by Dr. Pavel Oblozinskiy and then Dr. Michal Herman. and presently Dr. Alejandro Sonzogni.

Present activities

The NNDC carries out its original mission of

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

and

data storage, evaluation and dissemination to this day. This data is to be used "for basic nuclear research, applied nuclear technologies including energy, shielding, medical and homeland security." In 2004, the NNDC began a modernization program which consisted of digitization of data and offering new web services. As part of the program, the Center has upgraded to

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

-based data storage and computing platforms, as well as implementing the additional use of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

and Sybase relational database software.http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/annals06.pdf

References

{{Authority control Non-profit organizations based in New York (state) Brookhaven National Laboratory