Evaluated and recommended nuclear decay data are essential in applied research, particularly for detector calibrations. In the power reactor industry, which often deals with large amounts of radioactive material an inaccurately known gamma-ray emission probability may result in serious miscalculations. Also, in detector calibration, the effect of inaccurate standards may be propagated in the outcome of other measurements in both basic and applied research. Accurately measured standards are also important in astrophysics, medicine, industry, and in environmental studies.
The Decay Data Evaluation Project (DDEP) is an international collaboration formed by scientists from nuclear data groups and national metrology laboratories of the highest excellence, physics institutions, and universities. The main goal of this collaboration is to provide carefully evaluated properties of radioactive elements.
The First Workshop of Training Sessions was held at the Commissariat à L'Énergie Atomique (CEA, Saclay, France), March 6-10, 2006. This was a productive meeting where experienced data evaluators gave lectures on procedures and statistical analysis of data, and new young scientists joined in and started their own evaluations. The Second Workshop was held in Bucharest (12-14 May, 2008) organized by the Radionuclide Metrology Laboratory of the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH, Bucharest, Romania). Fruitful discussions on evaluation methods, strategies, and the use of computer codes took place at this meeting, helping new evaluators achieve their objectives.
This Third Workshop will be held at the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain) from 9-11 June 2010. It is being organized by the Ionizing Metrology Laboratory (LMRI) in colaboration with Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN), Nuclear Data Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA-NDS) and Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radioactivos (ENRESA).
The objectives of this workshop are to address the following:
