Nuclear Structure & Decay Data Nuclear Structure & Decay Data Centers Centers

John Kelley (NCSU&TUNL) – US Nuclear Data Program Budget Briefing – February 9, 2015

ANL – (Staff + contract with MSU/NSCL)ENSDF, XUNDL, AME, IAEA-CRP on Med. Isotopes

LBNL – (Staff + contract with UC-Berkeley )ENSDF, EGAF, XUNDL

McMaster – (– under contract with BNL/NNDC)ENSDF, XUNDL, NSR, BE2, IAEA-CRPnemission

NNDC – (Staff + contracts with N. Nica/Texas A&M, B. Singh/McMaster and E. Brown/LBNL)

ENSDF, NDS, NuDat, NSR, XUNDL, BE2, Code Maintenance, Dissemination, IAEA-CRPnemission

ORNL – (Staff)ENSDF, XUNDL, Astrophysics

TUNL – (Staff + postdoc)A=2-20, ENSDF, XUNDL

Many evaluators are actively involved in experimental research

US Nuclear Data Program Budget Briefing – February 9, 2015

Structure & Decay DatabasesStructure & Decay Databases

ENSDF – the evaluated product of NSDD network15 mass chains published in Nucl. Data Sheets (17/17 in prior 2 years)Some other work is added to ENSDF without publication 31 mass chains in review pipeline as of 1/1/2014Only 12 new A-chain evaluations entered the review process in 2014

NSR – up to date primary source of references with keywords.3130 new references added in 2014.B. Pritychenko, B. Singh, E. Betak (Bratislava), J. Totans

XUNDL – current compilation of major journal articles in ENSDF format. McMaster – 318, TUNL – 53, ANL – 8,

LBNL+UCB - 30, ORNL - 37, BNL – 5 (New Contributors) Estimate total 0.5 FTE (perhaps a low estimate) Activity contributes to future ENSDF evaluations Requires increased input from network evaluators to survive

Bright SpotsBright Spots• Favorable DOE program review in June

• New interest from International sites who may contribute– Japan

– GSI

• Concerns from last year are being addressed:

– Loss of trained postdoc evaluators

– Need for new staff hires

– Network appears to be shifting away from multiple strong centers

MSU (with ANL) hired Jun Chen (former ANL postdoc) in support of Structure compilation and evaluation (XUNDL/ENSDF)

UC-Berkeley hired Lee Bernstein in support of Structure compilation (XUNDL)

Contracts with Coral Baglin and Rick Firestone for ENSDF evaluations

US Nuclear Data Program Budget Briefing – February 9, 2015

Structure and decay data concernsStructure and decay data concernsENSDF A-chain submissions are falling

12 A-chains were submitted in 2014

Jag Tuli estimates we need around 20 A-chains/year

Shrinking budgets are impacting workforce

ANL has fallen to 80% (USNDP) support for primary evaluator. Potential Furlough; unable to participate in meetings, workshops, training in FY15

Historic Placement with NE complicates finding relevant 0.2 FTE

Loss of support for Nuclear Data Sheets publication preparations Administrative assistant retirement/(no replacement) at NNDC

Requires more effort from Evaluators

TUNL administrative assistant will contribute some of her time

Aging ENSDF evaluators – Same storyRetired/consultant funding = Experience and Productivity (can’t last forever)

Baglin, Brown, Firestone, Martin, Singh US Nuclear Data Program Budget Briefing – February 9, 2015

Structure and decay data concernsStructure and decay data concerns• ENSDF needs increased national and international

expansion and focus on productivity

• Low productivity could reach a critical point for maintaining the quality of the ENSDF database and loss of NDS journal.

• We a network strategy to support best staff hires to ensure stability and quality of the core activities (NSR/ENSDF/XUNDL)

• Critical assessment of the breadth of present activities (USNDP review panel/ white paper)

• Budgets – support activities with the highest impactUS Nuclear Data Program Budget Briefing – February 9, 2015