Program - Brookhaven National Laboratory

sections.
[1] N.R.Dzysiuk, A.O.Kadenko, I.M.Kadenko, G.I.Primenko, Nucl. Phys. and Atomic Energy. 12,
No.2, 137 (2011) [2] N.Dzysiuk, I.Kadenko, A.J.Koning, R.Yermolenko, Phys.Rev.C 81, 014610 (2010)
[3] M.Herman, R.Capote, B.V.Carlson et al., Nucl.Data Sheets 108, 2655 (2007) [4] A.J.Koning, S.Hilaire,
M.C.Duijvestijn, Proc.of Int.Conf.on Nucl. Data for Science and Technology - ND2007, April 22-27, 2007,
Nice, France, eds. O. Bersillon, F. Gunsing, E. Bauge, R. Jacqmin and S. Leray, EDP Sciences, 211 (2008)
PR 60
Determination of Partial Gamma-Ray Production Cross-Sections for Chemical Elements
(Establishment of an Analytical Database for Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis)
Zsolt Revay, Petra Kudejova, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, FRM II, Garching, Germany. Richard
B. Firestone, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley. Laszlo Szentmiklosi, Center for Energy
Research, Hungariasn Academy Of Sciences, Budapest.
The establishment of a spectroscopic database for prompt gamma activation analysis was started in Budapest
in 1997 after the PGAA facility was put into operation. No database existed earlier that met the
requirements of chemical analysis, which restrained the development of the technique. The first version of
the analytic database was published in the Handbook of Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis [1] and later
a compiled version appeared in a Technical Document of the International Atomic Energy Agency [2]. This
dataset is the basis of the Evaluated Gamma-ray Activation File (EGAF) [3]. The catalog contains the
spectroscopic data (energies, partial gamma-ray production cross-sections and their uncertainties) for the
prompt gamma rays induced by cold neutron capture on every chemical element except helium. Parallel to
the establishment of the database, a method was developed to perform reliable chemical analysis based on
the comparison of the prompt gamma spectra of unknown samples to the data library. Prompt gamma-ray
measurements were initially performed with the low-flux thermal and medium-flux cold neutron beams at
the PGAA facility at the Budapest Research reactor and later at the high-flux facility at FRM II, Garching.
Three separate spectra were measured for all naturally occurring elements 1) an irradiation in their
elemental, oxide, or sometimes other simple-compound form, 2) irradiation together with chlorine (PVC)
whose precisely-known prompt gamma lines were used to calibrate the energies of the elemental ones, and
3) irradiation of stoichiometric compounds (e.g. chlorides) or homogeneous mixtures (e.g. water solutions)
to determine the partial cross-sections of the lines relative to a comparator (Cl or H). The prompt gamma
dataset was validated by a large number of measurements, and it has been frequently improved since its
introduction. Similar measurements were performed in a chopped neutron beam to determine the intensity
of decay gammas from short-lived nuclides. Revision of the prompt gamma library continues in Garching
where many of the previous measurements will also be repeated utilizing the unique conditions of the
high-flux PGAA instrument.
[1] Zs. Révay, R.B. Firestone, T. Belgya, G.L. Molnár in G.L. Molnár (ed.) Handbook of Prompt Gamma
Activation Analysis with Neutron Beams, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2004, pp. 173-364. [2] H.D. Choi, R.B. Firestone,
R.M. Lindstrom, G.L. Molnár, S.F. Mughabghab, R. Paviotti-Corcuera, Zs. Révay, A. Trkov, V.
Zerkin, Z. Chunmei “Database of prompt gamma rays from slow neutron capture for elemental analysis”,
International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 2007. [3] R.B. Firestone, this conference [4] L. Szentmiklósi,
Zs. Révay, T. Belgya, Nucl. Instr. Meth A 564 (2006) 655 and 622 (2010) 468.
PR 61
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