Developing Coordinated Non-Destructive Testing Activities to Comply with ISO Standards for Training, Certification and Harmonization

Warsaw was the venue of the RER/1/009 "Regional Coordination Meeting on Developing Coordinated NDT Activities to Comply with ISO Standards for Training, Certification and Harmonization". From the 16^th to the 18^th of January, 16 candidates from 14 countries in the Europe Region participated in the aforementioned Meeting, organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in collaboration with the government of Poland through the Certification and Conformity Assessment Centre (UDT-CERT).

NDT (non-destructive testing) is widely used throughout the region for component inspection applications, in order to ensure quality. NDT consists of a wide range of analysis techniques utilized in science and industry in order to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The European Federation for NDT (EFNDT) brings together individual nations and organization in the field of NDT in Europe and creates a more effective and significant voice for the NDT industry, the NDT profession, users of NDT and the wider community. EFNDT has established working groups to effectively tackle NDT challenges in Europe and to establish a pan-European system of personnel qualification.

The purpose of this Meeting was to:

• Finalize an IAEA Technical Document (TECDOC-628) - “Training guidelines in non-destructive testing techniques”;
• Discuss the development of protocols for training, the implementation of a distance training system;
• Define regional designated centres. 

Participants from the 14 Member States represented at the meeting agreement on a list of Regional NDT Designated centres that could help promote peaceful applications of nuclear techniques in the areas of non-destructive techniques within the Europe Region. Protocols for NDT training were developed and validated, while TECDOC 628 was updated and endorsed. The event also offered the opportunity for RER/1/009 project counterparts to agree on a revised workplan for the project.