This paper is the first of two articles (Part I and Part II) that presents the results of the new atomic mass evaluation, Ame2012. It includes complete information on the experimental input data (including not used and rejected ones), as well as details on the evaluation procedures used to derive the tables with recommended values given in the second part. This article describes the evaluation philosophy and procedures that were implemented in the selection of specific nuclear reaction, decay and mass-spectrometer results. These input values were entered in the least-squares adjustment procedure for determining the best values for the atomic masses and their uncertainties. Calculation procedures and particularities of the Ame are then described. All accepted and rejected data, including outweighed ones, are presented in a tabular format and compared with the adjusted values (obtained using the adjustment procedure). Differences with the previous Ame2003 evaluation are also discussed and specific information is presented for several cases that may be of interest to various Ame users. The second Ame2012 article, the last one in this issue, gives a table with recommended values of atomic masses, as well as tables and graphs of derived quantities, along with the list of references used in both this Ame2012 evaluation and the Nubase2012 one (the first paper in this issue).

The advent of the "AME-Future" project a year and a half ago rendered the realization of a new mass table possible in the very near future: the AME2013 mass table. A large number of the new experimental data obtained from different laboratories have already been analyzed. They exhibit important changes in the mass surface. Most of these changes lift the mass surface to higher masses (reduced binding energies). The rise can be explained by previously under-estimated Q(beta) data of exotic species due to missed levels. Some onsequences of this change are expected in calculations using the nuclear masses as one of their ingredients. We will discuss here the expected impact on the nucleo-synthesis r-process path in astrophysics

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International audienceThe Atomic mass evaluation (AME) provides the reliable resource for the values related to atomic masses. Since the publication of the latest version of AME in 2003, many developments for atomic mass determination have been done and important results changed significantly our knowledge. A preliminary version of AME was released in April 2011, and an official version is foreseen to be published in early 2013. The general status of AME is presented and some specific features of AME for proton-rich nuclides are discussed