Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Assess the state of nuclear data libraries and computer simulation tools to advise on strategic actions in order to preserve and develop Euratom capacities;
• Provide reliable nuclear data for neutron or charged particles induced reactions cross-sections, decay and structure data, and computer simulation tools for different nuclear energy and non-energy applications, mainly applied to the fields of fission and fusion safety, radiation protection, waste management, innovative nuclear systems and sustainable fuel cycles;
• Support access to key experimental infrastructures that address specific measurement capabilities and methodologies to preserve know-how in computer applications, nuclear data evaluation, validation of data and models, and to improve education & training and knowledge sharing.

Nuclear data are critical inputs – and a major source of uncertainty – in predictive modelling and simulations of energy and non-energy applications. The combination of high-power computing capabilities with the availability of advanced simulation models (and related data libraries) and more accurate nuclear data measurements enable nuclear data evaluation programmes. The evaluated nuclear data libraries are a combination of:

• experimental measurements of the interactions of interest and estimation of their uncertainties and (cross-)correlations;
• the evaluation of available experimental data and the creation of evaluated nuclear data libraries (including uncertainties and covariance matrices);
• the validation of these (updated) evaluated nuclear data libraries by means of available differential and integral experimental data;
• the dissemination of these (updated) evaluated nuclear data libraries according to the standards of ‘reproducible science’ – including all the information needed to reconstruct the evaluation process.

Beyond the needs for advanced and innovative nuclear designs and fuels, the use and needs of nuclear data for accelerator-related applications and for the production and use of isotopes (in fission, fusion, health, environmental monitoring, etc.) keeps growing.

Proposals should:

• Demonstrate how state-of-the-art simulation, experimental and multidisciplinary approaches will be used to produce nuclear data libraries, capitalising on previous Euratom projects and on the international expert community.
• Build upon new nuclear data measurements using innovative instrumentation and detectors, reactor and accelerator‑based neutron sources, improved evaluation, validation and modelling in order to achieve the required accuracies to better assess uncertainties and correlations in their evaluation.
• Demonstrate that proposed activities will be applied to the demonstration facilities in the energy and non-energy fields, for example innovative design improvements, implementation of advanced fuel cycles, innovative light water reactors and small modular reactors, accident tolerant fuels, optimisation of radioactive waste management and geological disposal, production and use of radioisotopes (e.g. high precision nuclear data, for the major actinides present in advanced reactor fuels, to reduce uncertainties on isotopes with new relevance for applications; closing fuel cycles with minimisation of radioactive waste).
• Provide tangible contributions in the field of evaluated nuclear data, their testing and validation; develop and validate computer tools in the nuclear data pipeline; contribute to the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion (JEFF) evaluated nuclear data file and its production, and as such strengthen Euratom’s nuclear simulation capacities to support the identified High Priority Request List (HPRL) of the international evaluation cooperation working parties that monitor priority nuclear data needs for nuclear applications, e.g. OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation, JEFF and the International Atomic Energy Agency.