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Proceedings of the 20th annual conference of the British institute of non-destructive testing
-Book rew'ews sources available and factors underlying their choice for specific tasks. The treatment of the biological hazards of radiation strikes a welcome balance and emphasizes that radiation hazards are wellunderstood, whereas many other hazards faced in industry and everyday life are both more severe and less understood. Normally, less understanding leads to greater fear; it is an interesting paradox that this is not the case with radioactivity. Books like this play an important role in encouraging more realistic attitudes. The editor is to be congratulated on the selection of topics and the rigour with which they have been approached. It is interesting however, that he has chosen to label the chapter titled Radiation measurement - statistical considerations as an Appendix. It cannot
have been added as an afterthought and logic suggests it should have been placed together with the other
expositions of the principles behind the successful design and application of radioisotope instrumentation. The main users of the book will be chemical, mechanical and production engineers. Surely the editor cannot believe the mathematics underlying counting statistics are beyond such an audience. Other minor criticisms are that one or two important chapters are relatively modest in ambition and not supplemented with an adequate list of references, for instance that on radioisotope sources. Here (and elsewhere), more emphasis might have been placed, for example, on isotope generators and their value in extending the range of tracers available, reducing radiation hazards and, more importantly, increasing the economic attractiveness of isotope-based instrumentation to organizations without the resources to run a small nuclear reactor or cyclotron accelerator to
produce short-lived isotopes, or sufficiently intense usage to merit frequent purchase of longer-lived tracers from Amersham International or elsewhere. Detailed descriptions of actual applications of radioisotopes are the great strength of the book, and the fact that the authors could all call on their experience in the Radioisotope Services Group of ICI has proved particularly valuable in the variety of applications described. It is almost certainly unique to have such comprehensive coverage in a single volume, and it will come as a surprise to many to see the current breadth of radioisotope usage in industry and the accuracy achievable in many cases. It is a delight, in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, to be able to welcome wholeheartedly a volume which draws attention so convincingly to the benefits of manmade radiation.
M.R. Hawkesworth
NDT-85 Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference of the British Institute of Non-destructive Testing Engineering Materials Advisory Service, Warley, UI~ 1986 (iv + 619 pp, £60) Anyone who attended the 1985 conference of the British Institute of N D T will tell you that it was a Good Thing. A combination of enthusiastic organization, a varied programme and lively social arrangements has left many pleasant memories (and, incidently, has probably changed the form of these conferences for all time). And now the written proceedings have turned up. Are they going to pour any cold water on those pleasant memories? It is true that the social aspects of conferences are important - if not, why bother to hold them? - but it is also essential for a conference to have a sound technical base of good papers. These proceedings provide us with the hindsight to decide just how good that conference really was. The editors have elected to arrange the papers into groups of similar applications and that provides a useful overview of the main areas of work= Within each area, we find the usual mixture of general reviews and more detailed
NDT International February 1987
technical papers. As an example, the first area covers Nuclear power and we find papers describing the general scene in both France and Belgium. Not earth-shattering stuff, but useful none the less. At the other end of the scale, there are more detailed and specialized papers on welds in A G R boilers, inspection of intermediate level waste monoliths by radioscopy, and so on. Tomlinson, in a paper on 'Detectability of intergranular attack in PWR steam generator tubing', manages a neat balance by producing a review paper which covers a wide range of current work but in considerable technical detail. N D T is becoming an increasingly complex subject and anyone who can pull some of the strands together like this is doing us all a service.
the inspection of the gas circuits at the Hunterston 'A' nuclear power station. Here we find not only technical details of the inspection but a description of the planning and co-ordination which was needed for such a large undertaking and also the quality system and controls which were used to ensure that the work was done to an acceptable standard.
An encouraging feature present in several papers in these proceedings is the realization that N D T goes beyond the simple technical details. This can be seen in the South of Scotland Electricity Board paper on
N D T in the offshore industry,
In their preface, the editors note that the number of papers related to nuclear power arose because of the importance of the Sizewell B PWR public enquiry and they add, perhaps a little wistfully, 'the results of (the inquiry) are not yet available'. Well, they are still not available at the time of writing this review over a year after the conference. Perhaps in 1987? Another group of papers covers reflecting the local interest and optimism - an optimism which even at the time of the conference was looking rather frayed at the edges. Once again there are useful
77
_ Book
re vie ws
reviews, p a r t i c u l a r l y the p a p e r s by Elliot-Jones o f the D e p a r t m e n t o f Energy a n d Mills o f Oceaneering. U n d e r w a t e r N D T is still a c o m parative newcomer. As one a u t h o r notes, it is o n l y 20 years since the first e x p l o r a t i o n well was drilled a n d little m o r e t h a n 10 years since the first oil c a m e ashore. You might then expect some o f the N D T to be r a t h e r crude but in fact most o f the p a p e r s s t a n d ilp quite well. True, there is a p a p e r o n underwater m a g n e t i c particle inspection which, after a token m e n t i o n of BS6072, goes on to talk a b o u t ' e m p i r i c a l m a x i m i z a t i o n o f the p r o d u c t o f current a n d turns, p r o v i d e d this does not cause furring'. Some o f us m i g h t q u i b b l e at that but o f course the w o r k is d o n e u n d e r r a t h e r difficult conditions. Are there any critics p r e p a r e d to go u n d e r w a t e r to show t h e m h o w to do better? Six p a p e r s are g r o u p e d together u n d e r the h e a d i n g o f Transportation industry a l t h o u g h o n e o f them, on concrete coatings for s u b m a r i n e pipelines, a p p e a r s to be an interloper. P e r h a p s they t h o u g h t the
offshore section was a l r e a d y big enough. The tip for the future here is to keep y o u r eye on bridges. This is an area where the r e q u i r e m e n t s o f structural integrity a n d the c a p a b i l i t i e s o f N D T are b e g i n n i n g to c o m e together in an increasingly interesting way. A n o t h e r substantial section - 12 p a p e r s - is c o n c e r n e d with Research techniques in NDT. This section is obviously more fragmented and lacks the review aspect but it does cover a wide range: L a m b waves, t h e r m a l wave testing, c o n d i t i o n monitoring, reliability studies a n d m o r e besides. You w o u l d need to be very h a r d bitten not to find s o m e t h i n g o f interest. It is s o m e t i m e s difficult to j u d g e the technical merit o f p a p e r s like these, p a r t i c u l a r l y since they lack the peer review o f a n o r m a l j o u r n a l article. But c o n s i d e r e d as e x a m p l e s o f w h a t is going on a n d as guides to further study they serve well enough. T h e section on Aerospace inspection c o n t a i n s only two papers. This is p e r h a p s a little d i s a p p o i n t i n g , a l t h o u g h it w o u l d have been diffi-
Non-Destructive Testing Congratulations to REREliar well onyour 20tit Rnniversary from Castrol NDT Tile Crack Detection Team 78
cult to cover all aspects of N D T in one conference. T h e p a p e r by M a n n e r s on ' T h e use o f eddy currents to assist aircraft structural integrity a u d i t i n g ' presents an interesting e x a m p l e o f how carefully p l a n n e d i n s p e c t i o n can be used to assure the safety o f w h a t are e n d e a r i n g l y d e s c r i b e d as m a t u r e aircraft. H e c o n c l u d e s 'cost effective s o l u t i o n s . . , will be be devised by a close c o - o p e r a t i o n a n d u n d e r s t a n d i n g between the structural e n g i n e e r a n d the N D T specialist'. A statement o f general a p p l i c a b i l i t y t h r o u g h o u t the whole o f N D T . A n o t h e r short section - four p a p e r s - on Certification and education c o n c l u d e s the proceedings. In this, B o s s e l a a r reports o n an outline r e c o m m e n d a t i o n for n a t i o n a l personnel qualifications and certification schemes. All the words a p p e a r to be close to those b e i n g p r o p o s e d for o u r own n a t i o n a l s c h e m e a n d yet that, a n d intern a t i o n a l h a r m o n i z a t i o n , still seem so far off. H o w m u c h l o n g e r will we have to wait for a consistent standard of personnel approval across the w h o l e o f o u r industry? T h e v o l u m e is neatly r o u n d e d off by a n o t h e r e x a m p l e o f the local interest in the conference - a p a p e r by M c E w a n o f Paisley College reviewing N D T t r a i n i n g a n d e d u c a t i o n in Scotland. The v o l u m e itself is a very attractive one. It is well b o u n d a n d a p p e a r s to have been p r o d u c e d from the authors' own drafts. If so, they are to be c o m p l i m e n t e d on the quality - most of the t y p o g r a p h i c a l errors seem to be in the typeset list o f contents. T h e o n l y obvious m a j o r error in the text is a t r a n s p o s i t i o n of pages 298 a n d 299. So how do the p l e a s a n t m e m o r i e s of NDT-85 s t a n d up to a scrutiny of these proceedings? Quite well really. The s p e c t r u m o f quality o f conference p a p e r s in g e n e r a l is a wide one but the ones in this v o l u m e fall towards the g o o d end. T h e m a i n use of these p r o c e e d i n g s will be to act as a s n a p s h o t o f the current British N D T scene, a n d this they do very adequately. Even those people who d i d not go to the conference ( a n d w h o will b e c o m e increasingly a n n o y e d at b e i n g told what fun it all was) s h o u l d get some benefit from the volume.
R. Shipp NDT International February 1987
have been added as an afterthought and logic suggests it should have been placed together with the other
expositions of the principles behind the successful design and application of radioisotope instrumentation. The main users of the book will be chemical, mechanical and production engineers. Surely the editor cannot believe the mathematics underlying counting statistics are beyond such an audience. Other minor criticisms are that one or two important chapters are relatively modest in ambition and not supplemented with an adequate list of references, for instance that on radioisotope sources. Here (and elsewhere), more emphasis might have been placed, for example, on isotope generators and their value in extending the range of tracers available, reducing radiation hazards and, more importantly, increasing the economic attractiveness of isotope-based instrumentation to organizations without the resources to run a small nuclear reactor or cyclotron accelerator to
produce short-lived isotopes, or sufficiently intense usage to merit frequent purchase of longer-lived tracers from Amersham International or elsewhere. Detailed descriptions of actual applications of radioisotopes are the great strength of the book, and the fact that the authors could all call on their experience in the Radioisotope Services Group of ICI has proved particularly valuable in the variety of applications described. It is almost certainly unique to have such comprehensive coverage in a single volume, and it will come as a surprise to many to see the current breadth of radioisotope usage in industry and the accuracy achievable in many cases. It is a delight, in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, to be able to welcome wholeheartedly a volume which draws attention so convincingly to the benefits of manmade radiation.
M.R. Hawkesworth
NDT-85 Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference of the British Institute of Non-destructive Testing Engineering Materials Advisory Service, Warley, UI~ 1986 (iv + 619 pp, £60) Anyone who attended the 1985 conference of the British Institute of N D T will tell you that it was a Good Thing. A combination of enthusiastic organization, a varied programme and lively social arrangements has left many pleasant memories (and, incidently, has probably changed the form of these conferences for all time). And now the written proceedings have turned up. Are they going to pour any cold water on those pleasant memories? It is true that the social aspects of conferences are important - if not, why bother to hold them? - but it is also essential for a conference to have a sound technical base of good papers. These proceedings provide us with the hindsight to decide just how good that conference really was. The editors have elected to arrange the papers into groups of similar applications and that provides a useful overview of the main areas of work= Within each area, we find the usual mixture of general reviews and more detailed
NDT International February 1987
technical papers. As an example, the first area covers Nuclear power and we find papers describing the general scene in both France and Belgium. Not earth-shattering stuff, but useful none the less. At the other end of the scale, there are more detailed and specialized papers on welds in A G R boilers, inspection of intermediate level waste monoliths by radioscopy, and so on. Tomlinson, in a paper on 'Detectability of intergranular attack in PWR steam generator tubing', manages a neat balance by producing a review paper which covers a wide range of current work but in considerable technical detail. N D T is becoming an increasingly complex subject and anyone who can pull some of the strands together like this is doing us all a service.
the inspection of the gas circuits at the Hunterston 'A' nuclear power station. Here we find not only technical details of the inspection but a description of the planning and co-ordination which was needed for such a large undertaking and also the quality system and controls which were used to ensure that the work was done to an acceptable standard.
An encouraging feature present in several papers in these proceedings is the realization that N D T goes beyond the simple technical details. This can be seen in the South of Scotland Electricity Board paper on
N D T in the offshore industry,
In their preface, the editors note that the number of papers related to nuclear power arose because of the importance of the Sizewell B PWR public enquiry and they add, perhaps a little wistfully, 'the results of (the inquiry) are not yet available'. Well, they are still not available at the time of writing this review over a year after the conference. Perhaps in 1987? Another group of papers covers reflecting the local interest and optimism - an optimism which even at the time of the conference was looking rather frayed at the edges. Once again there are useful
77
_ Book
re vie ws
reviews, p a r t i c u l a r l y the p a p e r s by Elliot-Jones o f the D e p a r t m e n t o f Energy a n d Mills o f Oceaneering. U n d e r w a t e r N D T is still a c o m parative newcomer. As one a u t h o r notes, it is o n l y 20 years since the first e x p l o r a t i o n well was drilled a n d little m o r e t h a n 10 years since the first oil c a m e ashore. You might then expect some o f the N D T to be r a t h e r crude but in fact most o f the p a p e r s s t a n d ilp quite well. True, there is a p a p e r o n underwater m a g n e t i c particle inspection which, after a token m e n t i o n of BS6072, goes on to talk a b o u t ' e m p i r i c a l m a x i m i z a t i o n o f the p r o d u c t o f current a n d turns, p r o v i d e d this does not cause furring'. Some o f us m i g h t q u i b b l e at that but o f course the w o r k is d o n e u n d e r r a t h e r difficult conditions. Are there any critics p r e p a r e d to go u n d e r w a t e r to show t h e m h o w to do better? Six p a p e r s are g r o u p e d together u n d e r the h e a d i n g o f Transportation industry a l t h o u g h o n e o f them, on concrete coatings for s u b m a r i n e pipelines, a p p e a r s to be an interloper. P e r h a p s they t h o u g h t the
offshore section was a l r e a d y big enough. The tip for the future here is to keep y o u r eye on bridges. This is an area where the r e q u i r e m e n t s o f structural integrity a n d the c a p a b i l i t i e s o f N D T are b e g i n n i n g to c o m e together in an increasingly interesting way. A n o t h e r substantial section - 12 p a p e r s - is c o n c e r n e d with Research techniques in NDT. This section is obviously more fragmented and lacks the review aspect but it does cover a wide range: L a m b waves, t h e r m a l wave testing, c o n d i t i o n monitoring, reliability studies a n d m o r e besides. You w o u l d need to be very h a r d bitten not to find s o m e t h i n g o f interest. It is s o m e t i m e s difficult to j u d g e the technical merit o f p a p e r s like these, p a r t i c u l a r l y since they lack the peer review o f a n o r m a l j o u r n a l article. But c o n s i d e r e d as e x a m p l e s o f w h a t is going on a n d as guides to further study they serve well enough. T h e section on Aerospace inspection c o n t a i n s only two papers. This is p e r h a p s a little d i s a p p o i n t i n g , a l t h o u g h it w o u l d have been diffi-
Non-Destructive Testing Congratulations to REREliar well onyour 20tit Rnniversary from Castrol NDT Tile Crack Detection Team 78
cult to cover all aspects of N D T in one conference. T h e p a p e r by M a n n e r s on ' T h e use o f eddy currents to assist aircraft structural integrity a u d i t i n g ' presents an interesting e x a m p l e o f how carefully p l a n n e d i n s p e c t i o n can be used to assure the safety o f w h a t are e n d e a r i n g l y d e s c r i b e d as m a t u r e aircraft. H e c o n c l u d e s 'cost effective s o l u t i o n s . . , will be be devised by a close c o - o p e r a t i o n a n d u n d e r s t a n d i n g between the structural e n g i n e e r a n d the N D T specialist'. A statement o f general a p p l i c a b i l i t y t h r o u g h o u t the whole o f N D T . A n o t h e r short section - four p a p e r s - on Certification and education c o n c l u d e s the proceedings. In this, B o s s e l a a r reports o n an outline r e c o m m e n d a t i o n for n a t i o n a l personnel qualifications and certification schemes. All the words a p p e a r to be close to those b e i n g p r o p o s e d for o u r own n a t i o n a l s c h e m e a n d yet that, a n d intern a t i o n a l h a r m o n i z a t i o n , still seem so far off. H o w m u c h l o n g e r will we have to wait for a consistent standard of personnel approval across the w h o l e o f o u r industry? T h e v o l u m e is neatly r o u n d e d off by a n o t h e r e x a m p l e o f the local interest in the conference - a p a p e r by M c E w a n o f Paisley College reviewing N D T t r a i n i n g a n d e d u c a t i o n in Scotland. The v o l u m e itself is a very attractive one. It is well b o u n d a n d a p p e a r s to have been p r o d u c e d from the authors' own drafts. If so, they are to be c o m p l i m e n t e d on the quality - most of the t y p o g r a p h i c a l errors seem to be in the typeset list o f contents. T h e o n l y obvious m a j o r error in the text is a t r a n s p o s i t i o n of pages 298 a n d 299. So how do the p l e a s a n t m e m o r i e s of NDT-85 s t a n d up to a scrutiny of these proceedings? Quite well really. The s p e c t r u m o f quality o f conference p a p e r s in g e n e r a l is a wide one but the ones in this v o l u m e fall towards the g o o d end. T h e m a i n use of these p r o c e e d i n g s will be to act as a s n a p s h o t o f the current British N D T scene, a n d this they do very adequately. Even those people who d i d not go to the conference ( a n d w h o will b e c o m e increasingly a n n o y e d at b e i n g told what fun it all was) s h o u l d get some benefit from the volume.
R. Shipp NDT International February 1987