3 COMPONENTS OF NON-DESTRUCTIVE

EXAMINATION

In general, in order to perform a non-destructive evaluation the

following elements are necessary:

0 Personnel
0 Equipment
0 Procedures
0 Acceptance criteria.

Each of these elements must be adequately taken care of in order to

perform an examination to proper quality standards for the task in
question. The personnel must be sufficiently trained and qualified, the
equipment must meet certain requirements on sensitivity, operability,
etc, and procedures must be clearly recorded and understood to
ensure that the necessary steps are followed.

An essential part of the procedures is to specify clear criteria for the

reporting of findings, to ensure that the utmost benefit is derived from
the inspection. Inspection is not a clear-cut matter and the act of
inspection constantly relies on human judgement and discrimination,
and hence is usually highly affected by the ability and experience of
the inspection team. Thus, in order to ensure consistency, it is
necessary that the procedures address this issue and, in particular,
find the correct balance between excessive reporting of
inconsequential trivia, which results in slow and ineffective inspection,
and the alternative risk of ignoring significant indications. The
specification of what constitutes a reportable indication and
appropriate follow-up procedures will depend on the policy of the
owners of the installation.

In other words, the actual practice of inspection must take place

against the background of the Operator's IMR (inspection,
maintenance, and repair) philosophy in addition to complying with
any local statutory requirements and regulations.