Recommended decay data and evaluated databases - international perspectives

Nationally and internationally sponsored libraries of evaluated decay data are briefly described and discussed in terms of their contents. Such databases contain uniquely defined and recommended data-sets that are intended for adoption with confidence in both energy and non-energy fields of application. Example evaluations are given to demonstrate the form of methodology adopted in such work, along with the emergence of powerful software techniques to display the recommended decay data in user-friendly forms. Decay-data requirements in both nuclear power generation and nuclear medicine are also assessed - inadequacies in the existing decay data of specific radionuclides have been identified, and are reviewed in order to define the need for further studies.