BNL's NNDC Celebrates Milestone - One-million-plus database retrievals in FY 2006


The Bulletin, Vol. 60 - No.36, October 20, 2006: The Lab's National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) had a good reason to celebrate this month in FY 2006 the Center has provided over one million successful database retrievals to its users! Notably, the usage of the NNDC database has almost doubled over the last two years.

Says Peter Bond, Deputy Director for Science & Technology, "With the support of the DOE Office of Nuclear Physics and Ray Orbach, the DOE Under Secretary of Science, the NNDC has continued to play an important role in the dissemination of nuclear data information in the national and international arena. It is no small feat that this team has successfully made it feasible for users to make one million database retrievals."

The primary mission of the Center is to collect, evaluate, and disseminate nuclear physics data for basic research and applied nuclear technologies. Pavel Oblozinsky, of the Energy Science & Technology Department (EST), who heads NNDC, says, "It is critical that the database is maintained at the highest standard so that the credibility and accuracy of the information is absolute. The quality service our staff provides is appreciated by our users."

Oblozinsky is grateful for the DOE support that makes this service possible. "We also owe a great deal to Dennis Kovar, an Associate Director in DOE's Office of Nuclear Physics in DOE. His office directly sponsors the US Nuclear Data Program, of which the major part is the NNDC," he says.

Future Development

While Oblozinsky considers the one million database retrievals to be a great milestone, he is also looking forward to another historically important event. "This December, the NNDC expects to release a US electronic data library for nuclear technology that will be useful for decades, " he says.

Database Retrievals


Some History

The NNDC has a long history. Originally established at the Lab in 1952, the center has been providing nuclear physics data for over 50 years. The information became available electronically in 1986, and available via the web in 1994.

At first, the Center established its reputation within the Physics Department under the name Brookhaven Neutron Cross Section Compilation Group. In 1960, it was moved to the Reactor Physics Division within the Lab's Department of Nuclear Energy. In 1967, it was renamed the National Neutron Cross Section Center by the Atomic Energy Commission. Then, in 1977, the center assumed additional responsibility for nuclear structure and decay data and its current name was born - National Nuclear Data Center.

Nuclear Data dissemination is an important part of the primary mission of the NNDC but the group also generates evaluated nuclear data electronic libraries, publishes a monthly journal, "Nuclear Data Sheets," as well as other reference books.

EST's Boris Pritychenko, web master for the NNDC, comments, "This milestone is quite an accomplishment. All of us at the NNDC work hard to keep the information in the database up-to-date and the site easy to navigate. That's important, since this resource tool has many users, including universities, industry, nuclear reactor engineers and medical professionals around the globe."

Adds William Horak, EST Department Chair, "The staff at the NNDC work together and carry out their responsibilities seamlessly. Over the years the scope of their work has increased and slightly changed direction, but they continue to embrace new technologies that help the Lab maintain this important world-wide resource tool."

NNDC Staff

With Lab Deputy Director for Science & Technology Peter Bond (right) and Energy Science & Technology Department Chair William Horak (second from the right) are BNL's National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) staff members: (from left) Dimitri Rochman, Said Mughabghab, Thomas Burrows, Marion Blennau, Joann Totans, Nereida Santiago, Michal Herman, Ramon Arcilla, Alejandro Sonzogni, Boris Pritychenko, Jagdish Tuli, David Winchell, and NNDC Head Pavel Oblozinsky.

-Jane Koropsak

For more information on the NNDC go to: http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/index.jsp