IAEA Reference Materials

The IAEA provides reference materials (RMs) to laboratories world-wide to assist them in the quality of the results they obtain by nuclear analytical techniques.

More than 90 different reference materials are distributed by the Agency. Each of these is characterised for analytes belonging to one of the following groups:

• Radionuclides
• Trace elements and methyl mercury
• Organic contaminants
• Stable isotopes

In particular, the IAEA is the world’s largest supplier of matrix reference materials characterised for radionuclides. Some of the IAEA reference materials characterized for isotope ratios are at the highest metrological level as international measurement standards.

IAEA publications related to reference materials

• Certified reference material IAEA-418: I-129 in mediterranean sea water. IAEA/AQ/9. (2009).
• Report on the characterization of the naturally grown algae reference material IAEA-392.IAEA/AL/149. (2005).
• Development and use of reference materials and quality control materials. IAEA-TECDOC-1350. (2003)
• Reference materials for microanalytical nuclear techniques. IAEA-TECDOC-1295. (2002)
• Reference materials and intercomparison materials for stable isotopes of light elements. IAEA-TECDOC-825. (1995)

Further background information

• Combining and reporting analytical results (2007). A. Fajgelj, M. Belli and U. Sansone (eds). RSC Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85404-848-9.
• Reference materials for environmental analysis (1997). R.E. Clement, L.H. Keith and K.W.M. Siu (eds). Lewis Publishers, CRC Pres

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