Verification of nuclear cross section processing codes

The Internal Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has begun a project for the intercomparison of neutron cross section processing codes in order to verify their ability to reproduce numerical results. In this report this reproducibility aspect is referred to as the processing accuracy of a code. This paper will discuss: the scope of this project, the most prominent areas and sources of disagreement between processing codes and the current status of this project toward improving the reliability of the output from processing codes. The objectives of this project are: (1) to test the accuracy of processing codes; (2) to understand and eliminate the sources of discrepancies; (3) to arrive at the point where we have a number of cross section processing codes which can be used as black boxes, without worry, to accurately process cross section data, for use in a variety of applications