Evaluation of covariance data in JENDL

Iwamoto, Osamu  

Evaluation of covariance data for JENDL virtually started after the release of JENDL-3.2. Covariance data were estimated for 16 nuclides in JENDL-3.2 and compiled as JENDL-3.2 Covariance File. For JENDL-4.0, covariance evaluation was much enhanced especially for actinides; the number of nuclides with covariance was 99. With the new evaluations for light nuclides and structure materials, the latest version JENDL-5 provides covariance data for 105 nuclides. The covariances in JENDL were basically evaluated with the least square method with available experimental data. Basic methods were developed at the time of JENDL-3.2 covariance evaluation. While the nuclear reaction modeling codes were changed from the JENDL-3.2 evaluation to the JENDL-4.0 or JENDL-5 evaluations, the covariance evaluation code has been continuously used for all of them. Overview of the covariance evaluation for JENDL will be presented.