The National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) collects, evaluates, archives and disseminates nuclear physics data for basic nuclear research and for applied nuclear technologies. The center collects information on nuclear structure and nuclear cross-sections (mostly for neutron-induced reactions), maintains nuclear databases and makes use of modern information technology to disseminate the results. The data is kept in dedicated numerical libraries, which are periodically reevaluated and updated. The information is the product of the NNDC, cooperating data centers and other interested groups worldwide. There are two other major data banks operated by international organizations, one in Paris and another in Vienna.
The NNDC has provided more than a half-century of data and expertise to the world community, tracing its roots back to 1952, when the Brookhaven Neutron Cross Section Compilation Group was formed in the Physics Department. This group published the !rst edition of the well-known reference book BNL-325 (Neutron Cross Sections) in 1955. The group’s name was changed to the Sigma Center in 1961, to the National Neutron Cross Section Center in 1967 and Finally to the NNDC in 1977, when it was given the additional responsibility for nuclear structure and decay data.
In 2009, Brookhaven physicist Michal Herman succeeded Pavel Oblozinsky, who served as director since 2002. Oblozinsky spent 10 years modernizing the United States’ libraries of publicly available nuclear data and bringing the NNDC into the 21st century. Since 2002, use of NNDC services doubled every two years. The group introduced the next generation of computer services and released the seventh generation of the reaction data library, providing support for nuclear physics and its many applications. If a new generation of nuclear reactors is developed, the data will be used for the next 100 years.
The NNDC libraries are often used by the general public, not just by scientists. There was a noticeable up tick in use of the site after the case of the Russian spy poisoned by polonium hit the newspapers some years ago. While their customer base may be limited, the Center has the most accessed website at the Laboratory, aside from the BNL home page. In 2006, the Center reached an important milestone of “1 million plus” Web database retrievals. In FY2008 this number approached two million. The Center’s Web services and information is now easier to retrieve, more understandable, and more attractive due to extended plotting capabilities.