Radiographic Testing (RT) Requirements Under NRCan NDTCB

Radiation safety sits alongside the technical requirement: the radiographer licence, the area control and the dose records are audited as part of the same programme. NRCan NDTCB, enforced by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Government of Canada — NDTCB, based at 183.: Central, third-party certification only — there is no SNT-TC-1A style employer written practice in this scheme.

An auditor examining RT asks for source or tube, exposure devices, film or detectors, densitometers, IQIs and the survey meters used to control the area. NRCan NDTCB is the federal body that issues Canadian NDT certificates to CAN/CGSB-48.9712. Its formal name is the Natural Resources Canada National Non-Destructive Testing Certification Body; practitioners still say "CGSB certification", but CGSB only publishes the standard, and since November 2024 CWB Group has been a second certification body issuing to it. For an inspection service provider this is the gate to regulated Canadian work: technicians must hold a current certificate in the correct method, level and sector before deployment. The firm keeps the certificates, vision records and written authorisation to operate on file and produces them for clients and regulators. Employers, supervisors and a CGSB-certified Level 2 or 3 sponsor attest experience on the application. Certification is personal — it leaves with the technician.

Source: Verified August 2026 against NRCan NDTCB pages: "National Non-Destructive Testing Certification Body"; "Apply for NDT Certification"; "Details about the Initial NDT Certification Process"; "Renewing Your NDT Certification"; "Fees for NDT Certification and Examination" (page last modified 17 July 2026); "NDT Certification Body: FAQs" (confirming the NDTCB is the qualifying body for the CNSC exposure device operator written examination); "Standards Framework for the NDT Certification Program"; and "Rules of Implementation for CAN/CGSB-48.9712" (effective 31 March 2024). Also NRCan NDTCB controlled document 8.2.1-083, version 02, issued 24 March 2026; IAS accreditation certificate PCB-115 to ISO/IEC 17024:2012, scope effective 2 August 2019 (current accreditor should be re-confirmed before relying on it); CWB Group "Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Personnel Certification" and "Making sense of NDT personnel certification in Canada", read 2026.

Radiographic Testing under NRCan NDTCB — procedure, personnel and evidence
Item	What applies	Why it matters
Regime	Natural Resources Canada National Non-Destructive Testing Certification Body (NRCan NDTCB)	Enforced by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Government of Canada — NDTCB, based at 183 Longwood Road South, Hamilton, Ontario
Method	Radiographic Testing (RT)	Needs its own procedure and its own qualified personnel
Procedure approval	Per the certification scheme and the client specification	The signature an auditor traces
Other methods in scope	UT, UT-PA, MT, PT, ET, VT	Each needs separate qualification
Renewal	Certificates are valid for up to five years (60 months or less) and expire in the holder's birth month. Renewal requires evidence of continued satisfactory work activity plus a vision test — near and distance acuity results are valid one year, colour vision and grey-scale perception five years. Applications were due one month before expiry for certificates expiring up to 15 March 2026, and four months before expiry from 15 April 2026, when a structured credit system also becomes the proof of continued competence, with one attempt permitted per method. Late renewal is possible up to twelve months after expiry with a CAD 150 additional fee. Recertification, which adds examination, applies at the alternate cycle; CWB Group, certifying to the same standard, states recertification every ten years from initial certification. Published NRCan fees (page last modified 17 July 2026, non-refundable and non-transferable): application CAD 525 for all methods and levels; written registration CAD 90 per paper at Level 1, CAD 115 at Level 2, CAD 140 at Level 3; online written examination CAD 125 per paper; practical registration CAD 110–625; practical examination fees paid to the authorized examination centre CAD 320–1,520.	Applies to the personnel certification behind this method

Does NRCan NDTCB require a separate procedure for RT?

Yes. Every method in scope needs its own written procedure, approved by someone qualified in that method, describing technique, equipment, calibration, scanning or coverage, acceptance criteria and reporting. A single combined "NDT procedure" covering several methods is a finding under every regime that names procedures individually.

Who can approve a RT procedure under NRCan NDTCB?

Approval follows the certification scheme and the governing specification rather than the employer alone. The person approving must hold the scheme's qualification for RT at the appropriate level.

What RT records does a NRCan NDTCB audit sample?

The approved procedure, the technician's RT certification on the date of work, and the equipment evidence — source or tube, exposure devices, film or detectors, densitometers, IQIs and the survey meters used to control the area. The auditor works backwards from a finished job, so every item has to reconcile with the report and its stated acceptance criteria.

What is the most common RT finding at audit?

IQI sensitivity not achieved, or radiation area control records missing for the shot. It is a records failure rather than a technique failure — the examination was performed correctly and the evidence supporting it cannot be produced, which under NRCan NDTCB is recorded the same way as not having done the work.

Can a technician certified elsewhere perform RT under NRCan NDTCB?

Where the scheme's certification travels with the individual, yes — that is the point of central certification. Verify the certificate covers RT at the level required and is current, since scope and expiry are what get checked.

What equipment evidence does RT need under NRCan NDTCB?

Calibration status traceable to the day of use, covering the instrument and its accessories — probes, cables, blocks and reference standards for ultrasonics; sources and densitometers for radiography. An in-calibration instrument with an out-of-calibration reference block fails the same way as an uncalibrated one.

How do RT requirements differ from the other methods in NRCan NDTCB?

Scope, qualification and evidence are method-specific, so the differences are real rather than administrative. NRCan NDTCB also covers UT, UT-PA, MT, PT, ET, and each carries its own procedure, its own personnel qualification and its own equipment evidence.

Personnel certification for RT

Central, third-party certification only — there is no SNT-TC-1A style employer written practice in this scheme. An outsourced ASNT Level III cannot certify anyone in Canada and cannot sign as the certifying authority for a Canadian firm's personnel. What an outsourced Level 3 can do is hold a personal CAN/CGSB-48.9712 Level 3 in the method and sector, receive written authorisation to operate from the client firm, and on that basis write and approve NDT procedures, act as technical authority, and co-sign experience attestations as the required CGSB-certified sponsor. The distinguishing point is that the certificate must be his own, issued by NRCan NDTCB or CWB Group.