Preparation of ASTER in-house 10Be/9Be standard solutions

Abstract

Since its commissioning in 2006, the commercially available certificated National Institute of Standards and Technology standard reference material NIST SRM 4325 is used at the French national facility ASTER (CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence) to normalize 10Be measurements. This standard solution being no longer disposable, we thus decided to produce in-house standards. As a first attempt, a STD-12 standard (10Be/9Be=(4.939±0.053)×10−12) has been prepared from 2.5kg of marine sediments with an adapted chemical protocol. Then, a 10Be enriched solution of known concentration being available, a STD-11 standard (10Be/9Be=(1.191±0.013)×10−11) that will be used at ASTER in the near future to calibrate 10Be measurements and its dilution to the 10−14 level (STD-14 (10Be/9Be=(5.468±0.064)×10−14)) have been prepared from it.