Status Report of the Trondheim Radiocarbon Laboratory

Abstract

The Trondheim radiocarbon (14C) laboratory has evolved from a traditional radiocarbon decay counting laboratory to an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility primarily measuring 14C. This evolution required adjustments in sample preparation and data handling to match the capacity of the AMS system and reduction in sample sizes to about 1 mgC. We summarize here the steps involved in dating a sample at the National Laboratory for Age Determination in Trondheim, Norway. These include the structure of our sample database for information handling, sample cleaning procedures for different sample types, our reduction systems, both an automated EA-based system for regular use and a manual system for more challenging samples, and data evaluation. We will also briefly summarize the capabilities of our isotope-ratio mass spectrometer.