Is there a fifth international radiocarbon intercomparison (VIRI)?

The issue of comparability of measurements (and thus bias, accuracy, and precision of measurement) from diverse laboratories is one which has been the focus of some attention both within the radiocarbon community and the wider user communities. As a result, the C-14 community has undertaken a widescale, far-reaching, and evolving program of inter-comparisons, to the benefit of laboratories and users alike. The benefit to the users is, however, indirect, since the C-14 intercomparisons have not been used to generate league tables of performance, but rather to allow individual laboratories to check procedures and modify them as required. The historical progression of C-14 laboratory intercomparisons from the Third (TIRI, completed in 1995, Gulliksen and Scott 1995) and Fourth (FIRI, completed in 2000, Scott 2003; Boaretto et al. 2000; Bryant et al. 2002) suggests that a Fifth (VIRI) should also be expected. We describe the plans for VIRI.