Evaluation in the resonance range of nuclei with a mass number above 220

The author discusses the problems posed by the evaluation of neutron data for fissile or fertile nuclei in the range of resolved or unresolved resonances. It appears to take several years until the data of an experiment are used by the reactor physicists. If one wants to have recent data at one's disposal, one cannot have recourse to evaluated-data libraries. Moreover, the existing parameter sets are only fragmentary. A new evaluation is, therefore, necessary for nearly all of these nuclei, but it cannot be based upon different parameter sets; these are indeed contradictory, and the evaluator will have to go back to the original data. The author shows for the set of σf of 235U, that a careful comparison of the data shows up unsuspected local defects. Some examples illustrate the deviation between analyses carried out by different methods and between the results on the established divergences. The parameters or cross-sections are far from being known with the precision one would desire. This fact gives rise to anomalies in the interpretation of data necessary for understanding and simulation in the range of unresolved resonances. But the introduction of concepts connected with sub-threshold fission noticeably furthers this understanding. Therefore a comparison of the methods of analysis must be made in more and more accurate measurements (evaluation and correction of systematic errors). (author)