Beta Analytic Company Profile

Beta Analytic Inc. (BETA) is located in Miami, Florida. It was founded in 1979 pursuant to enactment of Federal Regulation which required mitigation of archaeological sites associated with Native American interests. Since radiocarbon dating was the premier tool for determining the age of an archaeological site, the need for commercial facilities to meet the demand from contract archaeologists was eminent. BETA was founded with a commitment to meet that demand with rapid delivery and responsiveness to customer needs. Rapid delivery of results was essential to the emerging contract archaeology industry. Today the now-mature Cultural Resource Management industry continues to rely heavily on BETA for its radiocarbon dating needs.

The fundamental goal of the current climate change laws and regulations (i.e. Kyoto Protocol, Renewable Obligation, California's AB32) are to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by requiring and promoting renewable energy. We at BETA support these initiatives and provide the tools for facilities to analyze the fuels being used to fulfill these initiatives. This is accomplished by having access to the best available technology, which is capable of delivering accurate data, both efficiently and dependably. Understanding and satisfying this need has resulted in a growing client list of over 5000 scientists from more than 30 countries around the world.

Today, Beta Analytic is the world's largest radiocarbon dating laboratory. Our devotion to accuracy, dependability, and confidentiality is the foundation upon which our colleagues' faith and trust is built. This trust is the motivating force behind our consistent efforts to provide quality scientific data. Our devotion to accuracy and dependability has led to a world renowned reputation, one we hold as our most precious possession.

Enactment of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 attracted BETA’s managers in similar fashion as did the Archaeological Resource Protection Act of 1979. The bill specifically requires Federal procurement agencies to purchase products with the highest biobased content. Since biobased content is a measure of present-day carbon vs. fossil carbon, only a minor modification in the final calculations was required to turn a “radiocarbon date”¹ into a “biobased content certification”. With BETA’s expertise, facilities and customer oriented management philosophies already in place, it was well positioned to immediately provide a reliable resource to the emerging biobased manufacturing industry.

In 2003, under the direction of the USDA, the CIRAS facility at Iowa State University undertook a program to test BETA’s capabilities (as well as many other laboratories). By June of 2004, BETA had analyzed over 200 biobased products under controlled test conditions delivering all results within 1 to 3 weeks. Measures confirmed the viability of radiocarbon dating for biobased content certification and the commercial capabilities of BETA to provide a reliable service. In January of 2004, BETA joined the American Society for Testing Materials subcommittee D20.96 to help author the ASTM standard for biobased content analysis using radiocarbon dating. The Standard was adopted in July 2004 as ASTM D6866.

Assurance of Quality Control

BETA is unequalled in its commitment to the quality of the results reported to our clients and colleagues. Our "Experience Factor" with over 200,000 analyses performed is unmatched in the field of radiocarbon dating. All accepted international conventions for radiocarbon dating are carefully followed and the modern reference standard used is the NBS Oxalic Acid Carbon-14 Standard. BETA is the only professional radiocarbon dating service laboratory QA/QC certified by both the USGS and DOE agencies. Additionally, extensive routine inter-calibrations and participation in ongoing International Radiocarbon lnter-calibrations such as IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and TIRI (Third International Radiocarbon Inter-calibrations) assures reliable, accurate and precise results. Monitoring of instrumentation and chemical purity is performed in addition to extensive computer cross-checks of statistical analyses and final age calculations. (*Results of International Radiocarbon Inter-calibrations and QA/QC documents are available upon request.)

1. Graven, Heather D; Guilderson, Thomas P; Keeling, Ralph F. Methods for High-Precision 14C AMS Measurement of Atmospheric CO2 at LLNL. RADIOCARBON, Vol 49, Nr 2, 2007, p 349-356.