Recent developments of prompt gamma activation analysis at Budapest

The PGAA facility at the Budapest Research Reactor has been continually upgraded and developed since its start-up in 1996, as a result of which its performance has improved considerably. The installation of the cold neutron source, the partial change to supermirror neutron guides and their realignment increased the flux by almost two orders of magnitude. The data acquisition has been modernized as well; digital spectrometers were tested and implemented in novel forms of gamma-ray spectrum collection. This year a higher-efficiency HPGe detector and a new data acquisition module were put into operation. Most recently all the neutron guides were changed to supermirror-coated ones to further increase the neutron flux. The improved evaluation software makes possible a more reliable elemental analysis of the samples. In this progress report these developments are critically reviewed. The characteristics of the latest system are also described. It is the first time that a set of new partial gamma-ray production cross sections are presented, which are based on the new intensity values of ¹⁴N(n,γ)¹⁵N calibration standard.