SURVEY OF REFERENCE MATERIALS FOR TRACE-ELEMENTS, NUCLIDES AND ORGANIC MICROCONTAMINANTS

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in co-operation with th e United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has recently prepared a survey on internationally available analytical reference materials fo r trace elements. nuclides and organic contaminants in biological, env ironmental and related matrices. The purpose is to help analysts to se lect reference materials for quality assurance that match as closely a s possible, with respect to matrix type and concentrations of the meas urands of interest, the ''real'' samples that are to be measured. The present version of the survey, which is available in the form of two c ost-free printed volumes [I], contains over 10,000 certified and infor mation values in 650 reference materials from 27 different producers. The 455 measurands listed include trace elements, major and minor elem ents, organic contaminants, organometallic compounds, radionuclides an d stable isotopes. Currently, the database from which the survey has b een produced is being modified and extended so as to make the data ava ilable in electronic form via the Internet.