FAST NEUTRON COVARIANCES FOR EVALUATED DATA FILES.

We describe implementation of the KALMAN code in the EMPIRE system and present first covariance data generated for Gd and Ir isotopes. A complete set of covariances, in the full energy range, was produced for the chain of 8 Gadolinium isotopes for total, elastic, capture, total inelastic (MT=4), (n,2n), (n,p) and (n,alpha) reactions. Our correlation matrices, based on combination of model calculations and experimental data, are characterized by positive mid-range and negative long-range correlations. They differ from the model-generated covariances that tend to show strong positive long-range correlations and those determined solely from experimental data that result in nearly diagonal matrices. We have studied shapes of correlation matrices obtained in the calculations and interpreted them in terms of the underlying reaction models. An important result of this study is the prediction of narrow energy ranges with extremely small uncertainties for certain reactions (e.g., total and elastic)