Quality and reliability through NDT

Nondestructive testing (NDT/NDE) has a number of important roles to play in ensuring the quality and reliability of many important products whose integrity is of paramount importance. The traditional role of NDT in quality control during manufacture - predominantly defect detection - has been complemented in recent years with materials characterisation, stress measurement and inspections in-service. The correct application of NDT can prevent accidents, save lives, protect the environment and avoid economic loss. To achieve these objectives there is a need to manage NDT operations to ensure that they can be relied upon by the designers and engineers who call for their use. Many of the necessary controls are available through the ''NDT Infrastructure'' which has been established in many countries comprising research and development, national standards, training courses, personnel certification, third party inspections etc. This infrastructure is quite sophisticated and most complete in the manufacturing quality control sphere of NDT, particularly in those geographical areas where ISO 9001 certification of quality assurance demands comprehensive systems be in place. The infrastructure is nowhere near so complete in the newer applications of NDT, and needs to be developed. As world trade rapidly becomes more liberalised, the infrastructures, which were originally national in their coverage, need to become international. For example, national standards for NDT in individual European countries are being superseded by European (CEN) standards. Of particular interest are the European standard for Qualification and Certification of Personnel in NDT (EN473) and an international Standard on the same subject (ISO 9712). National NDT Societies, which co-operate internationally through the International Committee for NDT (ICNDT) have an important role to play in these developments and in seeking international harmonisation. These topics are illustrated,with examples from the home and international business of Mitsui Babcock Energy Limited (MBEL). MBEL is a leading supplier of steam generating technology, systems and services. The company has headquarters in Great Britain and serves customers around the world.