Start on RICE-W (Radiocarbon Intercomparison on Chemical Experiments, Water series) program

Minami, Masayo*; Takahashi, Hiroshi*; Aramaki, Takafumi*; Kokubu, Yoko   ; Ito, Shigeru*; Wada, Hideki*; Nakamura, Toshio*

We generally use some sample preparation methods for radiocarbon analysis of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in water samples; the precipitation method, the bubbling method and the headspace-extraction method. These sample preparation methods have good and bad points each. Therefore, we have initiated a Radiocarbon Intercomparison on Chemical Experiments, Water series (RICE-W) program in Japan to examine whether the CO extraction procedures of water DIC introduce carbon isotopic fractionation and carbon contamination. Eight water samples for four kinds of surface seawater, ground water, hot spring water, and sodium bicarbonate solution have already provided to six AMS laboratories in Japan and are being carried out comparison of C measurements. We show the result of the RICE-W program in this presentation.