Neutron Cross Section Uncertainties in the Thermal and Resonance Regions

In the Atlas of Neutron Resonances, special care was expended to ensure that the resonance parameter information reproduces the various measured thermal cross sections, as well as the infinite dilute resonance integrals for Z = 1-100. In contrast, the uncertainties of the recommended quantities do not match those generated from the uncertainties of the resonance parameters. To address this problem, the present study was initiated to achieve consistency for 15 actinides and 21 structural and coolant moderator materials. This is realized by assigning uncertainties to the parameters of the negative-energy resonances and changing, if necessary, significantly the uncertainties of the low-lying positive-energy resonances. The influence of correlations between parameters on the derived uncertainties is examined and discussed.