OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2010. NDT (None Destructive Testing) Laboratory is of great importance in provision of inspection services and testing of piping, iron structures, high-pressure vessels, storage tanks and other types of mechanical equipments. Different methods of inspection are widely used in oil and gas industry – X-RAY/Radiography, Ultrasonic Inspection, Dye Penetrant Inspection, Magnetic Particle Inspection and etc. Kulevi Black Sea Terminal Corrosion team is establishing the independent Laboratory to support the Terminal operation and maintenance.

The Laboratory is supplied with large range of inspection equipments, UT scanners, X-RAY device and many supporting tools and needed technical base will be purchased. Very soon it will meet Georgian Centre of Accreditation to have an accreditation audit for monitoring of laboratory development and its personnel competency. All laboratory personnel have wide experience and knowledge on NDT inspection industry which is very effective during inspection works. While NDT laboratory is developing, almost 70% of existing equipments have been inspected for verification of equipments integrity.

All pressure vessels (heat exchangers), storage tanks and process piping are inspected for measuring of wall thickness and weld joints defects. Great achievements have been gained during UT inspection checks - all pressure vessels, storage tanks and process piping wall thickness are in satisfactory condition, wall loss haven’t been found. After inspection of each equipment, reports for related equipment are prepared which include inspection results, findings and additional recommendations.

Then inspection report is assessed by technical, maintenance and operation authorities. All inspection reports are uploaded to BOYS CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Software) for proper inspection history data. Development of NDT Laboratory is the part of BST Corrosion Strategy to support safe and reliable operation of the facility.