Reliable atomic and nuclear data are essential ingredients in a wide range of applications, including the design and operation of nuclear power plants, management of nuclear waste, production and uses of radioisotopes, medical dosimetry and diagnostics, the development and applications of lasers and accelerators, fusion energy research, environmental monitoring, plasma processing, materials inspections and nuclear safeguards.

Nuclear structure and decay data describe the lifetimes and decay modes of unstable isotopes, as well as the spectrum of emitted radiation. Nuclear reaction data describe cross sections for fundamental collision processes, for example between a neutron and a nucleus or between two nuclei. Atomic data include cross sections for collisions among electrons, atoms and molecules. The Agency also includes data for plasma-material interaction.

The Agency has established international networks of atomic and nuclear data?centres that ensure a high degree of consistency of the activities of the major data centres around the world.