API 570 Piping Inspection Support in Ontario

Short answer: In Ontario, process piping is regulated pressure equipment under Ontario Regulation 220/01 and TSSA's Boilers and Pressure Vessels Code Adoption Document, which adopts CSA B51 and the ASME B31 piping codes. TSSA registers piping designs and inspects new installations, but the in-service integrity programme is the owner's, and API 570 is the code most Ontario refiners and chemical plants build it on. The owner's API 570 inspector evaluates and signs. Atlantis performs the NDE: UT thickness at condition monitoring locations (CMLs), corrosion mapping, profile radiography, guided-wave screening and weld examination. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 570 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report.

Ontario's piping story is concentrated but deep. Sarnia's Chemical Valley packs refineries, petrochemical crackers, synthetic rubber, specialty chemical and fertilizer plants into a few kilometres of the St. Clair River, all tied together by unit piping, interconnecting pipe racks and pipeline terminals. Nanticoke on Lake Erie adds a large refinery and a steel works, Hamilton has integrated steel mills with by-product and utility piping, Sudbury has smelters and sulphuric acid plants, and the St. Lawrence corridor has chemical and pulp operations. A distinctive feature of the Ontario regime is that TSSA's certificate of inspection for piping is issued once, at installation, and does not require renewal, so the quality of the owner's own API 570 programme carries most of the in-service burden. This page explains where that piping is, how the Ontario rules and API 570 fit together, where pipeline jurisdiction begins, which NDE methods suit Ontario damage mechanisms, and what Atlantis hands your inspector. To start, request an NDE scope for your inspector's plan.

Where API 570 piping is in Ontario

Direct answer: Ontario's API 570 piping is concentrated in Sarnia and Lambton County, at the Nanticoke refinery on Lake Erie, in Hamilton's steel and industrial harbour, at chemical and fertilizer plants along the St. Clair River and the St. Lawrence, at Sudbury's smelting and acid plants, and in pulp and paper, food, pharmaceutical and power plants across the province.

Sarnia and Chemical Valley

Imperial and Suncor operate refineries in Sarnia and a third refinery sits just south at Corunna. Around them, ethylene and polyethylene production, synthetic rubber, plastics, specialty chemicals and a nitrogen fertilizer complex at Courtright run hydrocarbon, hydrogen, caustic, ammonia, acid and steam piping, much of it decades old and modified many times. Crude arrives by pipeline through Enbridge's Lines 5 and 78, and Line 9 starts here, so terminal manifolds and transfer piping sit beside process units. For piping inspection, the defining features are dense pipe racks running between operating companies, shared utility corridors, a long history of service changes and a mix of owner-user inspection departments that already run mature CML databases. What these sites need from an NDE contractor is data that drops straight into that history without renumbering, re-gridding or guesswork.

Nanticoke and the Lake Erie shore

Imperial's Nanticoke refinery in Haldimand County runs crude, conversion, hydroprocessing, sulphur recovery and utility units with large volumes of unit and offsite piping. The industrial park around it includes a steel works with its own gas, oxygen, steam and cooling-water systems. Wind off Lake Erie, freeze-thaw cycling and long runs of insulated, heat-traced offsite piping make corrosion under insulation (CUI) and the condition of jacketing a standing item in every external inspection.

Hamilton, Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe

Hamilton's integrated steel mills carry coke-oven gas, blast-furnace gas, oxygen, nitrogen, steam and acid pickling piping, while the harbour terminals and chemical distributors move fuels and bulk liquids. Across the Greater Toronto Area, pharmaceutical, food, beverage, chemical blending, specialty gas and district energy plants run steam, ammonia refrigeration and process piping. Many of these sites are not refineries and do not have a dedicated inspection department; their owners often adopt API 570 because insurers, corporate engineering standards or a US parent ask for it, and they rely heavily on contractors to collect the data.

Sudbury, the north and the St. Lawrence corridor

Sudbury's nickel and copper smelters operate sulphuric acid plants and gas-cleaning systems whose piping faces acid dew-point corrosion, erosion and sulphate attack. Mines across the north run reagent, slurry, compressed air and fuel piping. Along the St. Lawrence, chemical plants near Maitland and Cornwall and pulp and paper mills in eastern and northern Ontario handle caustic, chlorine dioxide, black and white liquor and steam. Ontario's nuclear stations at Bruce, Darlington and Pickering are a separate world: nuclear-class piping follows CSA N285.0 and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's licensing framework rather than API 570, though conventional balance-of-plant piping may sit in ordinary industrial programmes.

What API 570 requires, in plain terms

Direct answer: API 570 is the in-service inspection, repair, alteration and rerating code for metallic process piping. The owner groups piping into circuits, classifies each by the consequence of a leak, places CMLs where damage is expected, and schedules thickness and external inspections by class and remaining life, or under a qualifying risk-based programme. The inspector plans, evaluates and accepts; examiners measure.

The current edition is the fifth, published in February 2024 and issued alongside API RP 574, with an addendum since. API's summary of the changes highlights a defined Inspection Supervisor role, stronger requirements for pressure-relieving devices and rules on deferring inspection repair recommendations. Copies found online are usually older editions, so work from a licensed current copy. In our own words, these are the points that shape an NDE scope:

• Roles. The owner runs the programme; the API 570 inspector plans, evaluates and accepts; examiners such as Atlantis technicians perform and record examinations but do not judge fitness; repair organisations work to what the inspector authorises; engineers handle alterations and rerates.
• Service classes. Class 1 for services where a leak could quickly become an emergency, such as flashing light hydrocarbons and, in many programmes, sour gas and hydrofluoric acid; Class 2 for most unit piping; Class 3 for flammables that do not significantly vaporise and many offsite lines; and, in recent editions, Class 4 for low-consequence services.
• Intervals. Thickness measurement at the shorter of half the remaining life or the class maximum. US OSHA guidance citing API 570 gives five years for Class 1 and ten years for Classes 2 and 3. The 1998 edition set three years for injection points; check the current edition before you rely on any figure.
• Special locations. Injection and mix points, deadlegs, small-bore connections, insulated lines in the CUI temperature range and soil-to-air interfaces get additional CMLs and specific methods.
• Rates and remaining life. Long-term and short-term corrosion rates come from CML history, and the inspector normally governs on the more conservative of the two.
• Examiner qualifications. Recent editions identify certain applications where UT shear-wave examiners must have passed a performance demonstration. The inspector's plan should say where that applies.

Atlantis can calculate corrosion rates and remaining life from its thickness data for the inspector's review; the interval decision belongs to the inspector and the owner. Background reading: API 570 code requirements, what triggers an internal piping inspection, API 510 vs API 570 and our API 570 programme overview.

TSSA, O. Reg. 220/01 and the piping rules

Direct answer: Under the Technical Standards and Safety Act, Ontario Regulation 220/01 (Boilers and Pressure Vessels) covers boilers, pressure vessels, fittings and piping. TSSA's Code Adoption Document adopts CSA B51 with Ontario amendments and lists ASME B31.1, B31.3 and B31.5. Piping designs are registered, new piping is inspected by TSSA, and the owner must keep it safe in service.

Design, installation and alteration

The Boilers and Pressure Vessels Code Adoption Document (the August 2024 amendment BPV-24-01 was the current version when we checked, with a further update under consultation in 2025) sets out how Ontario applies CSA B51. In our own words, the points that matter to a piping NDE scope are these:

• Design registration. Calculations, drawings and specifications for piping are submitted to TSSA, the regulatory authority, before construction; small items below the code's size and volume thresholds are treated as Category H fittings rather than registered items.
• Piping inspection by TSSA. TSSA inspectors may inspect piping at any stage of manufacture or installation, and welded joints in a pressure piping system, including buried piping, must not be painted or covered until all required TSSA inspections are complete.
• Pressure testing. The method and test pressure for any pressure piping system are submitted to TSSA for approval.
• Certificate of inspection. For piping, the certificate of inspection is included in the Piping Systems Installation and Test Data Report and does not require renewal.
• Alterations and repairs. The design of an alteration to an existing pressure-retaining item is submitted to TSSA for review and approval, and owner-user programmes for self-inspection of repairs need a TSSA Certificate of Authorization.

Construction NDE on new and repaired welds is performed to the construction code's requirements, normally ASME B31.3 for process piping, within the installer's TSSA-accepted quality programme. Our reports are written so they can sit inside that record. See our pages on TSSA in Ontario, CSA B51 and CRN registration.

In service: the owner's programme carries the load

Ontario's mandatory periodic inspection table, with inspections by a TSSA inspector for uninsured equipment or by the insurer for insured equipment, applies to boilers and pressure vessels, for example a maximum of three years for an ordinary pressure vessel, and those inspections are carried out by persons holding an Ontario Certificate of Competency. Piping is not on that table. Every owner and operator must still operate pressure equipment, including piping systems, safely and keep it in safe working condition, and safety-valve servicing intervals in the code adoption document cover devices protecting piping. In practice, that general duty is met with a written integrity programme, and in refining, petrochemical and chemical plants that programme is almost always built on API 570 and API RP 574. Canada has no federal equivalent of the US OSHA process safety management rule; many Ontario operators follow CSA Z767, Process Safety Management, and corporate standards that name API 570 as the piping practice. Confirm your site's obligations with TSSA and your insurer.

NDE personnel in the Ontario code adoption document

TSSA's code adoption document amends the CSA B51 clause on nondestructive testing personnel so that acceptable standards include ASNT SNT-TC-1A, and its reference list includes CAN/CGSB-48.9712 (ISO 9712). That is construction-code language, but it tells you Ontario's pressure-equipment regulator recognises both schemes. For in-service API 570 work, the owner's specification and the inspector's plan decide which certification is acceptable for each method.

Pipelines, plant piping and where the boundary falls

Direct answer: Oil and gas pipelines wholly within Ontario fall under TSSA's Ontario Regulation 210/01 (Oil and Gas Pipeline Systems), whose code adoption document adopts CSA Z662-23. Interprovincial and international lines, such as Enbridge's Lines 5, 78 and 9 and the Trans-Northern products line, are regulated by the Canada Energy Regulator. Plant piping inside the fence is pressure piping under O. Reg. 220/01.

TSSA describes O. Reg. 210/01 as requiring all oil and gas pipelines in Ontario to comply with CSA Z662, and its Oil and Gas Pipeline Systems Code Adoption Document (FS-253-24) adopts CSA Z662-23 together with CSA Z246.1 for security management and CSA Z247 for damage prevention. Gas distribution utilities and storage operators in south-western Ontario, for example around the Dawn hub and Lambton County storage pools, operate under that regime and Ontario Energy Board approvals. Federally regulated lines follow the CER's Onshore Pipeline Regulations with CSA Z662.

For NDE scoping, the same weld procedure and the same corrosion mechanism can sit under API 570 on one side of an isolating flange and under CSA Z662 and a pipeline integrity management programme on the other. We record which regime each examined line falls under exactly as the owner's drawings define it, and we do not move the boundary. Pipeline-side work, including dig-site NDE, is covered on our pipeline inspection page and our CSA Z662 overview.

NDE methods for API 570 work in Ontario

Direct answer: UT thickness at CMLs carries the programme; automated corrosion mapping covers injection points and erosion-prone fittings; profile radiography covers insulated and small-bore lines; guided-wave screening covers long rack runs; PAUT, TOFD, MT and PT cover welds in cracking services; and visual examination covers every external inspection.

Industrial radiography in Canada is licensed federally by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and exposure device operators must hold CNSC certification. RT on Ontario sites is performed only by crews holding the required licence and certifications, and PAUT is often preferred where exclusion zones are impractical in a congested Sarnia unit or a Toronto-area plant. Method choice follows the damage mechanisms in each circuit; see the API 571 damage mechanisms guide, our sour cracking guide, the API RP 583 CUI guide and our CNSC overview.

Examiner certification: CGSB, SNT and what we confirm

Direct answer: API 570 does not name a single NDE certification scheme, so the owner's specification decides. Ontario owners commonly accept ASNT SNT-TC-1A, CAN/CGSB-48.9712 (ISO 9712) or either. Atlantis technicians are certified to an ASNT SNT-TC-1A written practice under ASNT Level III oversight, and we confirm acceptance in writing during scoping.

CAN/CGSB-48.9712, aligned with ISO 9712, is Canada's national scheme for NDT personnel, administered by Natural Resources Canada's NDT Certification Body. The Canadian General Standards Board, which published the standard, closed on 1 April 2026; NRCan's certification body continues and CAN/CGSB-48.9712 remains valid, according to NRCan and CWB Group notices. Confirm the current certification body when you write or update a specification. See our pages on CAN/CGSB-48.9712 and the NRCan NDT Certification Body.

Our honest position is simple. Atlantis is an ASNT-based NDE contractor. Every proposal states the certification basis method by method, and where a plan calls for a performance-demonstrated UT shear-wave examiner or a CGSB-only specification, we say so at scoping rather than after mobilisation. Many Ontario owners with US parents, US engineering standards or corporate API programmes write SNT-TC-1A or "CGSB or SNT" into their specifications. Atlantis does not provide CGSB or ISO 9712 training or certification; our training is ASNT SNT-TC-1A only, through NDT training in Ontario and across Canada.

How Atlantis supports your inspector

Direct answer: We deliver the NDE part of the inspector's plan: a defined scope, stated examiner certifications, Level III-reviewed procedures, questionable readings flagged immediately and a digital report the inspector can accept. We are not an Authorized Inspection Agency and we do not supply API-certified inspectors, and we do not hold an Ontario Certificate of Competency or act for TSSA or an insurer.

• Scope from the plan. Circuits, isometrics, CMLs, damage mechanisms, methods and coverage come from the API 570 inspector's plan.
• Qualification check. We confirm the owner's examiner certification requirements, including any performance-demonstration requirement for shear-wave UT, before booking a crew.
• Procedures. An ASNT NDT Level III prepares or reviews each procedure, referencing ASME Section V, with cold-weather and high-temperature UT and temperature correction.
• Fieldwork. Crews are mobilised to your site and the schedule is agreed during scoping; site orientation, permits and confined-space rules follow the owner's procedures and Ontario's occupational health and safety requirements.
• Data QA and flagging. Readings are compared with history on site, and questionable readings or new damage are flagged to the inspector the same day.
• Report. CML readings, C-scans, radiographs, guided-wave results with follow-up, calibration records and examiner certification records in our digital reporting platform.
• Acceptance and sign-off. The inspector reviews and accepts the results, decides on repairs and sets next dates.

Risk-based inspection and fitness-for-service work is performed by the owner's engineers or specialists using our data; Atlantis does not offer it. See API 570 piping NDE support and piping circuit and CML inspection.

Planning around turnarounds, winter and shared sites

Direct answer: On-stream UT, mapping and profile RT run year-round with cold-weather procedures; insulation stripping, CUI campaigns and turnaround NDE cluster in spring and autumn outages. In Chemical Valley, shared racks and neighbouring operators add coordination, and in urban plants radiography exclusion zones often push owners to PAUT.

• Turnarounds. Sarnia and Nanticoke refineries and the larger chemical plants plan major outages years ahead, and they compete for scaffolding, insulation contractors and NDE technicians. On-stream UT ahead of the outage lets repair spools, procedures and TSSA alteration submissions be ready on day one.
• Winter. Southern Ontario is milder than the Prairies, but lake-effect snow, freezing rain and steel temperatures well below freezing still affect couplant, batteries, readings and technician safety. Heated hoarding and temperature-corrected readings are standard; deep-cold stripping of insulation is avoided where possible.
• Shared racks. Interconnecting piping in Chemical Valley can cross property lines and operating permits. The scope must say who owns each line, who issues the work permit and whose inspector accepts the data.
• Urban plants. Toronto-area and Hamilton sites bring traffic, noise and neighbour constraints; PAUT replaces RT on many repair welds.
• Northern sites. Sudbury and remote mines need travel, camp or accommodation planning and winter-road awareness.

Book a scoping call to fit the NDE into your outage or on-stream plan.

API 570 piping inspection support across Ontario

Direct answer: Atlantis supports API 570 piping programmes across Ontario, with crews mobilised to your site on a schedule agreed during scoping, covering Sarnia and Lambton County, Nanticoke, Hamilton and the Golden Horseshoe, Toronto, Windsor, Kingston and the St. Lawrence corridor, Ottawa, and Sudbury and the north.

• Sarnia, Corunna and Courtright: refinery, petrochemical, rubber, specialty chemical and fertilizer piping. Related pages: NDT consulting in Sarnia, NDT training in Sarnia, practical NDT in Sarnia, NDT ERP in Sarnia and digital twins for Sarnia assets.
• Nanticoke and Haldimand County: refinery unit and offsite piping; see digital twins in Nanticoke.
• Hamilton and Oakville: steel-mill gas, oxygen, steam and acid piping and harbour terminal piping; see NDT consulting in Hamilton and digital twins in Hamilton.
• Toronto and Mississauga: pharmaceutical, food, chemical and district energy piping; see ultrasonic testing in Toronto, radiographic testing in Toronto and NDT consulting in Toronto.
• Windsor and the Detroit River: industrial and terminal piping; for technician practice see practical NDT in Windsor.
• Ottawa, Kingston, Maitland and Cornwall: chemical, utility and institutional steam piping; see practical NDT in Ottawa.
• Sudbury and northern Ontario: smelter acid-plant, mine and pulp-mill piping.

The companion hubs cover the other equipment on the same sites: API 510 pressure vessel inspection in Ontario and API 653 tank inspection in Ontario. For Level III procedure and written-practice support see NDT consulting in Ontario and NDT consulting across Canada; for inspection data and certification tracking, NDT ERP in Ontario; for technician development, practical NDT in Ontario and ASNT Level III training.

Keeping piping history usable

Direct answer: Because Ontario's piping certificate is not renewed, the owner's CML history is the main evidence that piping is still fit for service. We keep your circuit and CML numbering, record the reading pattern, instrument and calibration at each CML, and deliver data that loads into your inspection database.

Where a reading pattern or location differs from history, we flag it rather than let it produce a misleading corrosion rate. New CMLs are photographed and described so the next crew finds the same spot, and insulation plugs removed for readings are noted so they can be resealed. Examiner certification records travel with the data. Results can be viewed in a digital twin of the unit, and certificates, calibrations and work orders can be tracked in our inspection-management ERP. Layouts are on NDT report templates; construction-code background is in ASME B31.3 explained.

What to send us for an Ontario quote

Direct answer: Send the circuit list and isometrics, the last inspection report, the inspector's plan, your examiner certification requirements, insulation and access details and your outage window. We reply with questions or a scope, and a quote within 24 hours of having what we need.

1. Circuit list with service class, material, size, schedule, temperature and pressure, and TSSA registration details where relevant.
2. Isometrics with CMLs, injection points, deadlegs, small-bore connections and insulated or traced sections marked.
3. The last inspection report and thickness history, or confirmation that this is a baseline survey.
4. The inspector's plan and damage mechanisms, including caustic, amine, sour, acid and CUI-susceptible services.
5. Examiner certification requirements: SNT-TC-1A, CGSB or either, and any performance-demonstration requirement.
6. Where the owner's drawings place pipeline and plant-piping boundaries for any lines near terminals or utility tie-ins.
7. Access, scaffolding, insulation removal, heating, permits, orientation and dates.

Send us your circuit list and we will scope the NDE against your inspector's plan.

Frequently asked questions: API 570 in Ontario

Is process piping regulated by TSSA in Ontario?

Yes. Ontario Regulation 220/01 covers boilers, pressure vessels, fittings and piping, and TSSA's code adoption document applies CSA B51 and the ASME B31 piping codes. Piping designs are registered with TSSA and new installations are inspected before welds are covered. Confirm exemptions for small or low-pressure systems with TSSA.

Does Ontario require periodic inspection of piping?

TSSA's periodic inspection table covers boilers and pressure vessels; the piping certificate of inspection is included in the installation data report and does not require renewal. Owners must still keep piping in safe working condition, which in process plants is normally done through an API 570 programme.

Does Ontario law require API 570?

We found no Ontario regulation naming API 570 for in-service piping. It is the owner's chosen standard, often required by corporate engineering standards, insurers or a US parent company, and it is the practice most refineries and chemical plants in Sarnia and Nanticoke use.

Who signs API 570 piping inspections in Ontario?

The owner's API 570 inspector, employed by the owner or engaged through an inspection agency, evaluates the data and signs. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 570 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report.

Is Atlantis an Authorized Inspector or a TSSA inspector?

No. We are not an Authorized Inspection Agency, we do not supply API-certified inspectors, and we do not hold an Ontario Certificate of Competency or inspect on behalf of TSSA or an insurer. We perform and document the NDE that your inspector relies on.

Does TSSA accept SNT-TC-1A certified NDE technicians?

TSSA's boilers and pressure vessels code adoption document lists ASNT SNT-TC-1A among acceptable standards for NDT personnel, alongside CAN/CGSB-48.9712. For in-service API 570 work, the owner's specification decides, and we confirm acceptance during scoping.

Are your technicians CGSB certified?

No. Atlantis technicians are certified to an ASNT SNT-TC-1A written practice under ASNT Level III oversight. CAN/CGSB-48.9712 remains valid after the Canadian General Standards Board's closure on 1 April 2026; confirm the current certification body.

Who regulates pipelines in Ontario?

Pipelines wholly within Ontario fall under O. Reg. 210/01 and TSSA's code adoption document, which adopts CSA Z662-23. Interprovincial lines such as Enbridge's Line 5 and Line 9 are regulated by the Canada Energy Regulator. Plant piping inside the fence is pressure piping under O. Reg. 220/01.

Who licenses radiography on Ontario plant sites?

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Exposure device operators must hold CNSC certification and work is performed only by crews holding the required licence. PAUT is often used where exclusion zones are impractical.

Can you inspect piping while the unit stays on stream?

Yes, for most thickness work. UT at CMLs, corrosion mapping, profile RT and guided-wave screening are routinely performed on stream, with high-temperature procedures where needed. Internal access and some weld examinations wait for an outage.

Do you provide RBI, fitness-for-service, API 570 or CGSB training?

No. RBI and FFS are performed by the owner's engineers or specialists using our data, and we train only to ASNT SNT-TC-1A. For the API certification route see our API inspector career guide.

How quickly can you mobilise to Sarnia or Nanticoke?

We quote within 24 hours of receiving the scope information. Mobilisation, orientation and access are agreed during scoping around your turnaround or on-stream window.

Next step

For CMLs coming due, CUI follow-up, caustic or amine weld NDE or turnaround support, get a quote within 24 hours. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 570 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report.

More Atlantis NDT services in Ontario

• NDT training and certification in Ontario
• Level III consulting in Ontario
• API 653 storage tank inspection support in Ontario
• API 510 pressure vessel inspection support in Ontario
• NDT ERP software in Ontario
• Practical NDT simulator in Ontario

Part of the wider piping circuit inspection service at Atlantis NDT.