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The Fusion Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (FENDL) is a comprehensive and validated collection of nuclear cross section data coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Data Section (NDS). FENDL assembles the best nuclear data for fusion applications selected from available nuclear data libraries and has been under development for decades. FENDL contains sub-libraries for incident neutron, proton, and deuteron cross sections including general purpose and activation files used for particle transport and nuclide inventory calculations. We describe the history, selection of evaluations for the various sub-libraries (neutron, proton, deuteron) with the focus on transport and reactor dosimetry applications, the processing of the nuclear data for application codes, and the development of the TENDL-2017 library which is the currently recommended activation library for FENDL. We briefly describe the IAEA IRDFF library as the recommended library for dosimetry fusion applications. We also present work on validation of the neutron sub-library using a variety of fusion relevant computational and experimental benchmarks. A variety of cross section libraries are used for the validation work including FENDL-2.1, FENDL-3.1d, FENDL-3.2, ENDF/B-VIII.0, and JEFF-3.2 with the emphasis on the FENDL libraries. The results of the experimental validation showed that the performance of FENDL-3.2b is at least as good and in most cases better than FENDL-2.1. Future work will consider improved evaluations developed by the International Nuclear Data Evaluation Network (INDEN). Additional work will be needed to investigate differences in gas production in structural materials. Covariance matrices need to be updated to support the development of fusion technology. Additional validation work for high-energy neutrons, protons and deuterons, and the activation library will be needed., Comment: 81 pages, 114 figures

We review recent progress and motivate the need for further developments in nuclear optical potentials that are widely used in the theoretical analysis of nucleon elastic scattering and reaction cross sections. In regions of the nuclear chart away from stability, which represent a frontier in nuclear science over the coming decade and which will be probed at new rare-isotope beam facilities worldwide, there is a targeted need to quantify and reduce theoretical reaction model uncertainties, especially with respect to nuclear optical potentials. We first describe the primary physics motivations for an improved description of nuclear reactions involving short-lived isotopes, focusing on its benefits for fundamental science discoveries and applications to medicine, energy, and security. We then outline the various methods in use today to build optical potentials starting from phenomenological, microscopic, and ab initio methods, highlighting in particular the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. We then discuss publicly-available tools and resources facilitating the propagation of recent progresses in the field to practitioners. Finally, we provide a set of open challenges and recommendations for the field to advance the fundamental science goals of nuclear reaction studies in the rare-isotope beam era., Comment: This paper is the outcome of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams Theory Alliance (FRIB - TA) topical program "Optical Potentials in Nuclear Physics" held in March 2022 at FRIB. Its content is non-exhaustive, was chosen by the participants and reflects their efforts related to optical potentials

Neutron reaction data for the set of major chromium isotopes were reevaluated from the thermal energy range up to 20 MeV. In the low energy region, updates to the thermal values together with an improved $R$-matrix analysis of the resonance parameters characterizing the cluster of large $s$-wave resonances for $^{50,53}$Cr isotopes were performed. In the intermediate and high energy range up to 20 MeV, the evaluation methodology used statistical nuclear reaction models implemented in the EMPIRE code within the Hauser-Feshbach framework to evaluate the reaction cross sections and angular distributions. Exceptionally, experimental data were used to evaluate relevant cross sections above the resonance region up to 5 MeV in the major $^{52}$Cr isotope. Evaluations were benchmarked with Monte Carlo simulations of a small suite of critical assemblies highly sensitive to Chromium data, and with the Oktavian shielding benchmark to judge deep penetration performance with a 14-MeV D-T neutron source. A significant improvement in performance is demonstrated compared to existing evaluations., Comment: Submitted to Nuclear Data Sheets. 41 pages, 44 Figures, 13 Tables

An IAEA research project was dedicated to the compilation, evaluation and recommendation of cross-section data for the accelerator production of $^{11}$C, $^{13}$N, $^{15}$O, $^{18}$F, $^{64}$Cu, and $^{124}$I positron-emitting radionuclides clinically used for PET imaging, and for the accelerator production of two gamma emitters, $^{81}$Rb and $^{123}$I, used in SPECT imaging. Cross sections for 19 charged-particle induced reactions that can be employed for radionuclide accelerator production were evaluated including uncertainties. The resulting reference cross-section data were obtained from Pad\'e fits to selected and corrected experimental data, and integral thick target yields were subsequently deduced. Uncertainties in the fitted results were estimated via a Pad\'e least-squares method with the addition of a 4\% assessed systematic uncertainty to the estimated experimental uncertainty. Experimental data were also compared with theoretical predictions available from the TENDL library. All of the numerical reference cross-section data with their corresponding uncertainties and deduced integral thick target yields are available on-line at the IAEA-NDS medical portal https://www-nds.iaea.org/medportal/ and also at the IAEA-NDS web page https://www-nds.iaea.org/medical/., Comment: 24 pages, 36 figures, 150 references

The OECD-NEA High Priority Request List (HPRL) is a point of reference to guide and stimulate the improvement of nuclear data for nuclear energy and other applications, and a tool to bridge the gap between data users and producers. The HPRL is application-driven and the requests are submitted by nuclear data users or representatives of the user's communities. A panel of international experts reviews and monitors the requests in the framework of an Expert Group mandated by the NEA Nuclear Science Committee Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC). After approval, individual requests are classified to three categories: high priority requests, general requests, and special purpose requests (e.g., dosimetry, standards). The HPRL is hosted by the NEA in the form of a relational database publicly available on the web. This paper provides an overview of HPRL entries, status and outlook. Examples of requests successfully completed are given and new requests are described with emphasis on updated nuclear data needs in the fields of nuclear energy, neutron standards and dosimetry., Comment: submitted to EPJ Web of Conferences for the proceedings of the ND2019 International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology (Beijing ,China, May 19 - 24, 2019)

A recently derived dispersive optical model potential (DOMP) for $^{208}$Pb is extended to consider the non-locality in the real potential and the shell-gap in the definition of the nuclear imaginary potentials near the Fermi energy. The modified DOMP improves the simultaneous description of nucleon scattering on $^{208}$Pb and of the $^{208}$Pb particle-hole bound states. The new potential is shown to give a very good description of nucleon scattering data on near-magic targets $^{206,207}$Pb and $^{209}$Bi., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

Evaluated nuclear data uncertainties are often perceived as unrealistic, most often because they are thought to be too small. The impact of this issue in applied nuclear science has been discussed widely in recent years. Commonly suggested causes are: poor estimates of specific error components, neglect of uncertainty correlations, and overlooked known error sources. However, instances have been reported where very careful, objective assessments of all known error sources have been made with realistic error magnitudes and correlations provided, yet the resulting evaluated uncertainties still appear to be inconsistent with observed scatter of predicted mean values. These discrepancies might be attributed to significant unrecognized sources of uncertainty (USU) that limit the accuracy to which these physical quantities can be determined. The objective of our work has been to develop procedures for revealing and including USU estimates in nuclear data evaluations involving experimental input data. We conclude that the presence of USU may be revealed, and estimates of magnitudes made, through quantitative analyses. This paper identifies several specific clues that can be explored by evaluators in identifying the existence of USU. It then describes numerical procedures to generate quantitative estimates of USU magnitudes. Key requirements for these procedures to be viable are that sufficient numbers of data points be available, for statistical reasons, and that additional supporting information about the measurements be provided by the experimenters. Realistic examples are described to illustrate these procedures and demonstrate their outcomes as well as limitations. Our work strongly supports the view that USU is an important issue in nuclear data evaluation, with significant consequences for applications, and that this topic warrants further investigation by the nuclear science community., Comment: 39 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Nuclear Data Sheets

Comprehensive calculations of cross sections of photon induced reactions on $^{233-238}$U targets for incident photon energies from 3 up to 30 MeV are undertaken with the statistical model code EMPIRE-3.2 Malta. Results are compared with the experimental data from EXFOR and with the current evaluations. The differences and the similarities between the models and parameters used in calculations of photon- and neutron-induced reactions on the same nuclei are discussed with focus on fission. The role of the extended optical model for fission in improving the description of the measured data and in determining consistent sets of barrier parameters is pointed out., Comment: 16 pages, to be submitted to Physical Review C

High quality nuclear data is the most fundamental underpinning for all neutron metrology applications. This paper describes the release of version II of the International Reactor Dosimetry and Fusion File (IRDFF-II) that contains a consistent set of nuclear data for fission and fusion neutron metrology applications up to 60~MeV neutron energy. The library is intended to support: a) applications in research reactors; b) safety and regulatory applications in the nuclear power generation in commercial fission reactors; and c) material damage studies in support of the research and development of advanced fusion concepts. The paper describes the contents of the library, documents the thorough verification process used in its preparation, and provides an extensive set of validation data gathered from a wide range of neutron benchmark fields. The new \mbox{IRDFF-II} library includes 119 metrology reactions, four cover material reactions to support self-shielding corrections, five metrology metrics used by the dosimetry community, and cumulative fission products yields for seven fission products in three different neutron energy regions. In support of characterizing the measurement of the residual nuclei from the dosimetry reactions and the fission product decay modes, the present document lists the recommended decay data, particle emission energies and probabilities for 68 activation products. It also includes neutron spectral characterization data for 29 neutron benchmark fields for the validation of the library contents. The IRDFF-II library and comprehensive documentation is available online at https://www-nds.iaea.org/IRDFF/. Evaluated cross sections can be compared with experimental data and other evaluations at https://www-nds.iaea.org/exfor/endf.htm. The new library is expected to become the international reference in neutron metrology for multiple applications., Comment: Submitted to Nuclear Data Sheets, 109 pages, figures revised

Photo-induced reaction cross section data are of importance for a variety of current or emerging applications, such as radiation shielding design and radiation transport analyses, calculations of absorbed dose in the human body during radiotherapy, physics and technology of fission reactors (influence of photo-reactions on neutron balance) and fusion reactors (plasma diagnostics and shielding), activation analyses, safeguards and inspection technologies, nuclear waste transmutation, medical isotope production and astrophysical applications. Since the release of the IAEA Photonuclear Data Library in 1999 however, new experimental data as well as new methods to assess the reliability of experimental cross sections have become available. Theoretical models and input parameters used to evaluate photo-induced reactions have improved significantly over the years. In addition, new measurements of partial photoneutron cross sections using mono-energetic photon beams and advanced neutron detection systems have been performed allowing for the validation of the evaluations and assessments of the experimental data. Furthermore, technological advances have led to the construction of new and more powerful gamma-beam facilities, therefore new data needs are emerging. We report our coordinated efforts to address these data needs and present the results of the new evaluations of more than 200 nuclides included in the new updated IAEA Photonuclear Data Library, where the photon energy goes up to 200 MeV. We discuss the new assessment method and make recommendations to the user community in cases where the experimental data are discrepant and the assessments disagree. In addition, in the absence of experimental data, we present model predictions for photo-induced reaction cross section on nuclides of potential interest to medical radioisotope production.

Small uncertainties obtained for the Neutron Standards have been associated with possible missing correlations in the input data, with an incomplete uncertainty budget of the employed experimental database or with unrecognized uncertainty sources common to many measurements. While further detailed studies may improve the first two issues, the issue of potential unrecognized uncertainties and correlations between different experiments has long been neglected. We address this gap with a test-case study ons the evaluation of the total neutron multiplicity of the $^{252}$Cf(sf) source, which is included in the evaluation of the Thermal Neutron Constants within the Neutron Standards., Comment: Presented at the American Nuclear Society winter meeting, ANTPC November 2018, Orlando, FL, USA

Updated values and corresponding uncertainties of Isovector Giant Dipole Resonance (GDR) parameters which are obtained by the least-squares fitting of theoretical photoabsorption cross sections to experimental data are presented. The theoretical photoabsorption cross sections are taken as a sum of the components corresponding to the excitation of the GDR and quasideuteron photodisintegration. The current compilation is an extension and improvement of the earlier compilations of Lorentzian parameters for ground-state photoneutron and photoabsorption cross sections and covers experimental data made available up to June 2017., Comment: 69 pages, 162 figures; accepted for publication in "Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables"

Tamura coupling model has been extended to consider the coupling of additional low-lying rotational bands to the ground state band. Rotational bands are built on vibrational bandheads (even-even targets) or single particle bandheads (odd-$A$ targets) including both axial and non-axial deformations. These additional excitations are introduced as a perturbation to the underlying axially-symmetric rigid rotor structure of the ground state rotational band. Coupling matrix elements of the generalized optical model are derived for extended multi-band transitions in even-even and odd-$A$ nuclei. Isospin symmetric formulation of the optical model is employed. A coupled-channels optical model potential (OMP) containing a dispersive contribution is used to fit simultaneously all available optical experimental databases including neutron strength functions for nucleon scattering on $^{232}$Th, $^{233,235,238}$U and $^{239}$Pu nuclei and quasi-elastic ($p$,$n$) scattering data on $^{232}$Th and $^{238}$U. Lane consistent OMP is derived for all actinides if corresponding multi-band coupling schemes are defined. Calculations using the derived OMP potential reproduce measured total cross-section differences between several actinide pairs within experimental uncertainty for incident neutron energies from 50 keV up to 150MeV. Multi-band coupling is stronger in even-even targets due to the collective nature of the coupling; the impact of extended coupling on predicted compound-nucleus formation cross section reaches 5% below 3 MeV of incident neutron energy. Coupling of ground-state rotational band levels in odd-$A$ nuclei is sufficient for a good description of the compound-nucleus formation cross sections as long as the coupling is saturated (a minimum of 7 coupled levels are typically needed)., Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures, 8 tables, 3 appendices

Previously derived Lane consistent dispersive coupled-channel optical model for nucleon scattering on $^{232}$Th and $^{238}$U nuclei is extended to describe scattering on even-even actinides with $Z=$90--98. A soft-rotator-model (SRM) description of the low-lying nuclear structure is used, where SRM Hamiltonian parameters are adjusted to the observed collective levels of the target nucleus. SRM nuclear wave functions (mixed in $K$ quantum number) have been used to calculate coupling matrix elements of the generalized optical model. The "effective" deformations that define inter-band couplings are derived from SRM Hamiltonian parameters. Conservation of nuclear volume is enforced by introducing a dynamic monopolar term to the deformed potential leading to additional couplings between rotational bands. Fitted static deformation parameters are in very good agreement with those derived by Wang and collaborators using the Weizs\"acker-Skyrme global mass model (WS4), allowing to use the latter to predict cross section for nuclei without experimental data. A good description of scarce "optical" experimental database is achieved. SRM couplings and volume conservation allow a precise calculation of the compound-nucleus formation cross sections, which is significantly different from the one calculated with rigid-rotor potentials coupling the ground-state rotational band. Derived parameters can be used to describe both neutron and proton induced reactions., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables

A model to calculate particle-induced reaction cross sections with statistical Hauser-Feshbach theory including direct reactions is given. The energy average of scattering matrix from the coupled-channels optical model is diagonalized by the transformation proposed by Engelbrecht and Weidenm\"{u}ller. The ensemble average of $S$-matrix elements in the diagonalized channel space is approximated by a model of Moldauer [Phys.Rev.C {\bf 12}, 744 (1975)] using newly parametrized channel degree-of-freedom $\nu_a$ to better describe the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble (GOE) reference calculations. Moldauer approximation is confirmed by a Monte Carlo study using randomly generated $S$-matrix, as well as the GOE three-fold integration formula. The method proposed is applied to the $^{238}$U(n,n') cross section calculation in the fast energy range, showing an enhancement in the inelastic scattering cross sections.

We present calculations of deuteron elastic and inelastic breakup cross sections and angular distributions at deuteron energies below 100 MeV obtained using the post-form DWBA approximation. The elastic breakup cross section was extensively studied in the past. Very few calculations of inelastic breakup have been performed, however. We also analyze the angular momentum - energy distributions of the cross section for formation of the compound nucleus after inelastic breakup., Comment: 7 pages

Background:The design of new nuclear reactors and transmutation devices requires to reduce the present neutron cross section uncertainties of minor actinides. Purpose: Reduce the $^{243}$Am(n,$\gamma$) cross section uncertainty. Method: The $^{243}$Am(n,$\gamma$) cross section has been measured at the n_TOF facility at CERN with a BaF$_{2}$ Total Absorption Calorimeter, in the energy range between 0.7 eV and 2.5 keV. Results: The $^{243}$Am(n,$\gamma$) cross section has been successfully measured in the mentioned energy range. The resolved resonance region has been extended from 250 eV up to 400 eV. In the unresolved resonance region our results are compatible with one of the two incompatible capture data sets available below 2.5 keV. The data available in EXFOR and in the literature has been used to perform a simple analysis above 2.5 keV. Conclusions: The results of this measurement contribute to reduce the $^{243}$Am(n,$\gamma$) cross section uncertainty and suggest that this cross section is underestimated up to 25% in the neutron energy range between 50 eV and a few keV in the present evaluated data libraries.

Analytical solutions of dispersion relations in the nuclear optical model have been found for both imaginary volume and surface potentials. A standard Brown-Rho shape has been assumed for the volume imaginary term and a Brown-Rho shape multiplied by a decreasing exponential for the surface contribution. The analytical solutions are valid for any even value of the exponent appearing in these functional forms., Comment: 3 pages, no figures

A spherical optical model potential (OMP) containing a dispersive term is used to fit the available experimental database of angular distribution and total cross section data for n + Al27 covering the energy range 0.1- 250 MeV using relativistic kinematics and a relativistic extension of the Schroedinger equation. A dispersive OMP with parameters that show a smooth energy dependence and energy independent geometry are determined from fits to the entire data set. A very good overall agreement between experimental data and predictions is achieved up to 150 MeV. Inclusion of nonlocality effects in the absorptive volume potential allows to achieve an excellent agreement up to 250 MeV., Comment: 13 figures (11 eps and 2 jpg), 3 tables