Electronic data exchange has become routine. Large research institutes are making their data widely available via the Internet as a cost-free service to the scientific community.

Nuclear reference data are particularly extensive and well suited for electronic distribution, as was noted in Section 4.2.1 where a brief reference was made to data from the web site of the Nuclear Data Center of the US Brookhaven National Laboratory (www.nndc.bnl.gov). The information at present available to users is the product of the combined efforts of the US National Nuclear Data Centre (NNDC) with other data centres and other interested groups which have an interest in such data, not only in the United States but world-wide. Sites linked to the NNDC are listed at http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/usndp.

The use of electronic data sources is not without its problems by virtue of the enormity of the resource. To be supplied with an excess of data can cause confusion to those who are not sufficiently expert in their use. When applying nuclear techniques to practical problems, the importance of a sound understanding of the scientific principles cannot be over stated. Scientific understanding is the foundation of a knowledge structure while data are the building blocks. A balance must be struck between the two. Nevertheless, electronic data centres represent an almost limitless store of information, making it advisable to refer readers to the World Wide Web, specially so for the latest published data, though the latest data are not necessarily the most useful data.

It is of course necessary to exercise care to ensure that electronically transmitted information is of adequate quality. Clearly National Laboratories and major universities are a first-class source of information.