This is the final report of the work performed under the LANL contract on neutron cross section evaluations for ENDF/B-VII (April 2005-May 2006). The purpose of the contract was to ensure seamless integration of the LANL neutron cross section evaluations in the new ENDF/B-VII library. The following work was performed: (1) LANL evaluated data files submitted for inclusion in ENDF/B-VII were checked and, when necessary, formal formatting errors were corrected. As a consequence, ENDF checking codes, run on all LANL files, do not report any errors that would rise concern. (2) LANL dosimetry evaluations for {sup 191}Ir and {sup 193}Ir were completed to match ENDF requirements for the general purpose library suitable for transport calculations. A set of covariances for both isotopes is included in the ENDF files. (3) Library of fission products was assembled and successfully tested with ENDF checking codes, processed with NJOY-99.125 and simple MCNP calculations. (4) KALMAN code has been integrated with the EMPIRE system to allow estimation of covariances based on the combination of measurements and model calculations. Covariances were produced for 155,157-Gd and also for 6 remaining isotopes of Gd.

Neutron cross sections for a complete set of Nd isotopes, {sup 142,143,144,145,146,147,148,150}Nd, were evaluated in the incident energy range from 10−5 eV to 20 MeV. In the low energy region, including thermal and resolved resonances, our evaluations are based on the latest data published in the Atlas of Neutron Resonances. In the unresolved resonance region we performed additional evaluation by using the averages of the resolved resonances and adjusting them to the experimental data. In the fast neutron region, we used the nuclear reaction model code EMPIRE-2.19 validated against the experimental data. The results are compared to the existing nuclear data libraries, including ENDF/B-VI. 8, JENDL-3.3 and JEFF-3.1, and to the available experimental data. The new evaluations are suitable for neutron transport calculations and they were adopted by the new evaluated nuclear data file of the United States, ENDF/B-VII.0, released in December 2006.