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General Information

Structural &
Seismic Eng.

Evaluates the safety of complex structures and structural components when subjected to severe loads

Nuclear
Analysis

Uses state-of-the-art computer tools to analyze nuclear reactor and fuel cycle designs.

Systems
Engineering

Research in the design and operations of complex systems, including their hardware, software, and human elements.

Risk &
Reliabilty Analysis

Conducts risk and reliability assessments of commercial nuclear power plants and other complex technological systems.

Advanced Materials for Energy Systems

Conducts research on materials in extreme environments for advanced energy systems.

Provides information services in the fields of low and medium energy nuclear physics to users in the United States and Canada. Provides information on neutron, charged-particle, and photonuclear reactions, nuclear structure, and decay data.

Radiation Detector R&D

Research in the forefront of technological advances that may allow law enforcement and Homeland Security personnel to detect and locate sources of radiation.

Safeguards and Verification

Manages and coordinates support to international programs on behalf of U.S. government agencies including the International Safeguards Project Office, the Technical Survey Team, the Insider Threat Working Group, and Global Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention.

Nonproliferation
and Safeguards

Works to mitigate the threat posed by radiological materials

Nonproliferation and Homeland Security Field Support

Develops and tests radiation detectors for nonproliferation, treaty verification and homeland security applications.

Energy Storage

Basic electrochemical research to improve the efficiency and reliability of fuel cells and batteries.

Renewable Energy

Develops solutions to key issues facing the deployment, grid integration, and life-cycle assessment of renewable energy technologies in the U.S.

Energy Conversion

Offers advanced technical solutions to reduced fossil fuel use in geothermal power and building energy applications.

Energy Policy and Technology Analysis

Conducts long-term integrated energy, environmental, and economic analysis using the MARKAL family of models.

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Nuclear Science & Technology Department

National Nuclear Data Center

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.

Gathering Data for 60 Years

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.

Customers Not Only Scientists

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.