Measurement and Basic Physics Committee of the US cross-section evaluation working group. Annual report 1996

The Cross-Section Evaluation Working Group (CSEWG) is a long-standing committee charged with the responsibility for organizing and overseeing the U.S. cross-section evaluation effort. It`s main product is the official U.S. evaluated nuclear data file, ENDF. The current version of this file is Version VI. All evaluations included in ENDF are reviewed and approved by CSEWG and issued by the U.S. Nuclear Data Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory. CSEWG is comprised of volunteers from the U.S. nuclear data community who possess expertise in evaluation methodologies and who collectively have been responsible for producing most of the evaluations included in ENDF. In 1992 CSEWG added the Measurements Committee to its list of standing committees and subcommittees. This action was based on a recognition of the importance of experimental data in the evaluation process as well as the realization that measurement activities in the U.S. were declining at an alarming rate and needed all possible encouragement to avoid the loss of this resource. The mission of the Committee is to maintain a network of experimentalists in the U.S. that would provide needed encouragement to the national nuclear data measurement effort through improved communication and facilitation of collaborative activities. In 1994, an additional charge was added to the responsibilities of this Committee, namely, to serve as an interface between the more applied interests represented in CSEWG and the basic nuclear science community. This annual report is the second such document issued by the Committee. It contains voluntary contributions from eleven laboratories in the U.S. which have been prepared by members of the Committee and submitted to the Chairman for compilation and editing. It is hoped that the information provided here on the work that is going on at the reporting laboratories will prove interesting and stimulating to the readers