TM95-10 Overview of the QA/QC plan for the Radchem/Stable Isotope contracts at the NWQL

The Districts are frequently asked by cooperators to submit a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) plan for the analytical work listed in the proposals. The purpose of this memo is to describe QA procedures and standards in place at the National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) to monitor the performance of the contract laboratories. This information may be useful to the Districts in preparation of their QA/QC plans. The NWQL has agreements with the Reston Stable Isotope Laboratory (RSIL) for determining D/H, O-18/O-16, and S-34/S-32 and with the Menlo Park Isotope Laboratory (MPIL) for determining tritium. The Reston lab also analyzes O-18/O-16 and C-13/C-12 in samples of calcite and CO. The NWQL has commercial contracts for determination of N-15/N-14 with Global Geochemistry in California; C-14 and C-13/C-12 with the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada; low-level tritium with the University of Miami in Florida; and radiochemical constituents excluding C-14 and H-3 which are covered in other contracts and excluding the in-house work gross alpha, gross beta, radon, and laser uranium--with Quanterra-Richland in Washington.