NDT Inspection Services in Louisiana

Short answer: Atlantis NDT delivers non-destructive testing inspection across Louisiana, from the Mississippi River industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans to the Lake Charles LNG and refining cluster and the bayou fabrication yards of Houma and Port Fourchon. Services include UT thickness and corrosion mapping, PAUT and TOFD weld inspection, radiography through radiography crews licensed in Louisiana, MT, PT, VT and ET, plus NDE support for API 510, API 570 and API 653 programmes, all under ASNT NDT Level III oversight with code-referenced digital reports.

Louisiana's inspection market is shaped by water. The Mississippi River carries a chain of refineries, chemical plants, fertiliser complexes and grain and bulk terminals for more than a hundred miles; the Calcasieu Ship Channel and the Sabine and Cameron coast host some of the largest LNG export terminals in the world; and the coastal parishes build and service vessels and platforms for the Gulf offshore sector. Heat, humidity, salt air and flood risk drive corrosion everywhere. This page sets out where the work is, which Louisiana agencies matter, and how Atlantis scopes, executes and reports an inspection. If you already have a scope, request a Louisiana inspection quote.

Where inspection work is in Louisiana

Direct answer: Louisiana inspection demand clusters in five places: the Baton Rouge and river parishes chemical and refining corridor, the New Orleans east and west bank refineries and terminals, the Lake Charles and Cameron Parish LNG and petrochemical hub, the Houma, Morgan City and Port Fourchon offshore support and shipbuilding coast, and the Shreveport and Haynesville gas region in the north-west.

Baton Rouge and the river parishes

The stretch of the Mississippi from Baton Rouge downriver through Plaquemine, Geismar, Donaldsonville, Convent and the St. James and St. John parishes is often called the chemical corridor. ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge refinery and chemical plant, the Dow Louisiana operations at Plaquemine, the large chlor-alkali, polymer and isocyanate units at Geismar and the CF Industries nitrogen complex at Donaldsonville define the scale. Typical inspection scope here is UT thickness on process piping in corrosive service (chlorine, caustic, acids, ammonia), PAUT and RT on repair welds, PT on stainless and alloy piping, and API 510 internal inspections on columns, reactors and exchangers during turnarounds. See our Baton Rouge third-party inspection and API 653 tank inspection in Baton Rouge pages.

New Orleans, Norco, Garyville and Chalmette

Further downriver sit refineries such as Marathon's Garyville refinery, the Shell Norco site and Chalmette Refining, plus petroleum and chemical terminals on both banks and the Port of South Louisiana and Port of New Orleans facilities. Tank farms are a major share of scope: API 653 floor and shell work, settlement surveys on soft deltaic soils, and SPCC-driven integrity testing on bulk storage. Marine terminals and docks add UT and visual inspection of piping and structures over water. See New Orleans tank inspection and New Orleans piping inspection.

Lake Charles, Sulphur, Westlake and Cameron Parish

South-west Louisiana combines refining (Citgo Lake Charles and Phillips 66 Lake Charles), petrochemicals at Westlake and the Sasol complex, and LNG export at Cameron LNG, Sabine Pass LNG and Calcasieu Pass, with further terminals under construction. LNG means cryogenic stainless and nickel-alloy piping, where PT, RT and increasingly PAUT on new construction are central, and large storage tanks and process vessels on a corrosive coast. The 2020 hurricanes showed how storm damage creates sudden surges of inspection demand. See Lake Charles third-party inspection and pipeline NDT consulting in Lake Charles.

Houma, Morgan City, Lafayette and Port Fourchon

The coastal parishes are the shore base for much of the Gulf offshore industry. Shipyards and fabrication yards in Houma, Lockport, Morgan City and Amelia build supply vessels, liftboats, barges and platform modules, while Port Fourchon supports most deepwater activity. That work is weld-inspection heavy: UT and RT on structural and pressure welds, MT on structural steel to AWS D1.1, and class-society or owner specifications for vessels. Lafayette is home to many oilfield service companies whose equipment, from pressure-control gear to lifting equipment, needs periodic NDE. See NDT consulting in Lafayette and Practical NDT in Houma.

Shreveport, Monroe and north Louisiana

North-west Louisiana sits on the Haynesville shale, with gas gathering, compression, processing and new pipeline capacity feeding the coastal LNG terminals. Inspection here is weighted toward pipeline girth welds to API 1104, vessel and separator thickness surveys, and tank inspection at gathering facilities. A refinery in Shreveport and paper, chemical and manufacturing plants around Monroe add plant inspection scope. See NDT consulting in Shreveport and Monroe.

NDT methods we deliver in Louisiana

Direct answer: Atlantis delivers UT thickness and corrosion mapping, PAUT, TOFD, conventional shear-wave UT, radiography through Louisiana-licensed radiography crews, MT, PT, VT and ET. The table shows how each method is typically used in Louisiana and the code usually cited; the final technique is agreed with your inspector of record during scoping.

Procedures are reviewed by an ASNT NDT Level III and technicians are certified under an SNT-TC-1A written practice. Where your plant mandates its own procedures or performance demonstrations, we work to them. For more city-level detail see Baton Rouge weld inspection, New Orleans corrosion inspection, ultrasonic testing in Baton Rouge and radiographic testing in New Orleans.

API 510, 570 and 653 inspection support in Louisiana

Direct answer: Atlantis performs the NDE that Louisiana API 510, API 570 and API 653 inspections rely on, including CML thickness surveys, weld examination, tank floor and shell work and external visual inspection, and delivers documented results to your API-certified Authorized Inspector, who remains the inspector of record and signs the report.

API 510 pressure vessels. River-corridor and Lake Charles units run columns, reactors, drums and exchangers in some of the most corrosive services in the industry. We carry out external visual examination, UT thickness at each CML, PAUT or TOFD on welds where cracking mechanisms or prior repairs are a concern, and MT or PT inside vessels during entries. Readings are reported against prior surveys so your inspector can set corrosion rates and intervals. See API 510 pressure vessel inspection support and Baton Rouge pressure vessel inspection.

API 570 piping. Chemical plants on the river carry long runs of piping in chlorine, caustic, acid and ammonia service, and refineries add sulfidation and CUI concerns. We survey CMLs to your isometrics, add scanning at injection points and deadlegs, and support CUI screening where insulation is stripped. See API 570 piping inspection support and Baton Rouge piping inspection.

API 653 storage tanks. Louisiana's tank population is huge, from crude and product terminals on the river to the tank farms that feed export docks. Soft, settling soils make settlement surveys especially important. For out-of-service inspections we perform floor scanning with UT confirmation, shell thickness, shell-to-bottom and repair weld examination and nozzle work; for external inspections, shell thickness, visual examination of roof, shell, foundation and appurtenances, and settlement measurement presented against API 653 Annex B. See API 653 tank inspection support, Baton Rouge tank inspection and New Orleans tank inspection.

Atlantis does not sell risk-based inspection (API 580/581) or fitness-for-service (API 579) assessments. Our job is to give your integrity programme accurate, traceable data.

Turnarounds, shutdowns and planned inspection

Direct answer: Most Louisiana plant inspection is planned around spring and autumn turnarounds and around hurricane season. Atlantis joins scope planning early, agrees methods and procedures, and mobilises crews to your site on dates fixed during scoping, so NDE stays off the critical path and repair welds are re-examined before start-up.

A sound turnaround inspection plan has three phases. On-stream work before the outage covers thickness surveys, external visual and the welds that can be examined in service; this is how scope gets pulled out of the shutdown window. Outage work covers entries, tank floors, exchanger bundles and welds under insulation. Post-repair work re-examines every repair weld before the unit comes back. We help you sequence those phases and agree with your inspector which items can move on-stream.

Louisiana adds its own constraints. Hurricane season runs from June to November, and owners often avoid planning major outages in the peak weeks; after a storm, damage assessments create a sudden spike in inspection demand across the coast. River stage and fog affect access to dock-side assets. High humidity limits coating and some couplant choices. Plant contractor prequalification and site-specific safety orientation are completed before mobilisation. Offshore and yard work follows owner and class schedules rather than turnaround seasons. Plan a Louisiana turnaround inspection.

Louisiana regulations that shape inspection

Direct answer: In Louisiana, boilers fall under the Office of State Fire Marshal's boiler inspection programme, industrial radiography under the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, intrastate pipelines under the state Department of Conservation and Energy's pipeline safety programme with PHMSA, and process safety under federal OSHA's PSM standard. Tanks are subject to EPA SPCC.

Boilers and pressure vessels: Office of State Fire Marshal

Louisiana's boiler law is administered by the Office of State Fire Marshal, whose boiler inspection section issues certificates of inspection for regulated boilers, with inspections by state inspectors or authorised insurance inspectors commissioned through the National Board. The state rules are not designed as a routine inspection programme for most unfired pressure vessels, so vessel inspection on Louisiana plants is driven mainly by OSHA PSM mechanical integrity, insurers and owner-user programmes built on API 510. Confirm the status of a specific item with the Fire Marshal's office.

Radiography: LDEQ and Agreement State status

Louisiana is an NRC Agreement State. Radioactive material licences, industrial radiography rules and individual industrial radiographer certification are administered by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ). Atlantis does not claim to hold a Louisiana radioactive material licence; radiography on Atlantis scopes is carried out by radiography crews licensed in Louisiana, working to procedures reviewed under our Level III. Where a radiation exclusion zone would disrupt a running unit, PAUT or TOFD can be proposed if your code and owner accept it.

Pipelines: Department of Conservation and Energy and PHMSA

Intrastate natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline safety in Louisiana is overseen by the state's pipeline safety programme, part of the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy (formerly the Department of Natural Resources, later the Department of Energy and Natural Resources), acting as PHMSA's state partner; PHMSA regulates interstate lines under 49 CFR Parts 192 and 195. Agency names have changed recently, so confirm the current licensing and oversight authority with the state. Offshore facilities on the outer continental shelf fall under federal agencies including BSEE. See pipeline inspection services and Baton Rouge pipeline inspection.

Process safety and tanks

Louisiana private-sector employers fall under federal OSHA. The PSM standard (29 CFR 1910.119) requires inspection and testing of covered process equipment following recognised and generally accepted good engineering practice, with each inspection documented. Aboveground oil storage is subject to EPA's SPCC rule (40 CFR Part 112), which expects integrity testing to an industry standard such as API 653 or STI SP001. LDEQ also regulates air and water permits that can drive inspection of specific equipment.

Inspection reports clients can use

Direct answer: Atlantis delivers every Louisiana inspection as a digital report from our own reporting platform: readings, indications and photos tied to asset and location, with the procedure, acceptance criteria, technician certification and instrument calibration recorded. Reports are reviewed under ASNT Level III oversight before release.

Reports get rejected for the same reasons everywhere: untraceable readings, missing acceptance criteria, unknown technician qualifications and absent calibration records. Our platform captures data in the field (offline where there is no signal, which is common on remote pipeline right-of-ways and inside units), structures it per asset and CML, and exports it in formats your inspection database can import. See NDT inspection software and NDT reporting in New Orleans.

Results can also flow further: into Atlantis ERP for scheduling, technician certifications and invoicing, or onto a 3D model in our digital twin platform (see digital twins in Louisiana). Level III-led inspection, digital report and optional twin from one company is a combination the large inspection firms do not offer on a single page.

Cities we cover across Louisiana

Direct answer: Atlantis mobilises inspection crews to client sites anywhere in Louisiana. There is no physical Atlantis office in the state; crews travel to your plant, terminal, yard or pipeline and the schedule is agreed during scoping. These pages cover individual Louisiana cities in more depth.

• Baton Rouge and the chemical corridor: third-party inspection, pipeline inspection, corrosion inspection, Donaldsonville and petrochemical NDT consulting.
• New Orleans and the lower river: weld inspection, pressure vessel inspection, pipeline inspection, Garyville, Norco and Chalmette.
• Lake Charles and the south-west: third-party inspection, refining NDT consulting and maritime NDT consulting.
• Acadiana and the coast: Lafayette, Houma and maritime NDT in New Orleans.
• North Louisiana: Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria.

Related Louisiana hubs: NDT consulting in Louisiana for Level III services and written practices, and NDT training in Louisiana for ASNT SNT-TC-1A-based courses.

How to request inspection

Direct answer: Send Atlantis the asset, method, site, governing code, dates and deliverable. We reply with questions or a scoped quote, share procedures and technician certifications for your review, mobilise crews on the agreed date and deliver a Level III-reviewed digital report.

1. Describe the job. Asset type, method if known, Louisiana site, governing code (API 510/570/653, ASME, API 1104, AWS D1.1 or class rules), target dates, quantities and report format. Send your Louisiana RFQ.
2. Scoping call. Method and technique, access (scaffold, rope access, insulation removal, entry, marine access), site safety and whether RT or an ultrasonic alternative fits.
3. Quote and procedures. Scope, quote, procedures and certifications for your inspector of record.
4. Mobilisation. Site orientation and crew mobilisation on the date agreed during scoping.
5. Inspection. Critical findings are reported to your representative during the shift they are found.
6. Report. A digital, code-referenced report reviewed under ASNT Level III oversight.

Frequently asked questions about NDT inspection in Louisiana

What NDT inspection services do you provide in Louisiana?

UT thickness and corrosion mapping, PAUT, TOFD, conventional UT, radiography through Louisiana-licensed crews, MT, PT, VT and ET, plus NDE support for API 510, API 570 and API 653 programmes and pipeline inspection, all under ASNT Level III oversight.

Do you have an office in Baton Rouge or Lake Charles?

No. Atlantis has no physical office in Louisiana. Crews mobilise to your site and the schedule is agreed during scoping.

Who licenses industrial radiography in Louisiana?

Louisiana is an NRC Agreement State, and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality licenses radioactive material and certifies industrial radiographers. Radiography on our scopes is done by crews licensed in Louisiana.

Does the state inspect pressure vessels in Louisiana?

The Office of State Fire Marshal inspects regulated boilers. Its rules are not a routine inspection programme for most unfired pressure vessels, so plant vessels are usually inspected under OSHA PSM, insurer and owner-user programmes based on API 510. Check specific items with the Fire Marshal.

Can you support API 653 inspections at river terminals?

Yes. We perform floor scanning with UT follow-up, shell thickness, weld examination and settlement measurement. Your API 653-certified Authorized Inspector remains the inspector of record.

Can you work at LNG terminals in Cameron Parish?

Yes, subject to the owner's contractor prequalification and site safety requirements. Typical LNG scope is PT, RT and PAUT on stainless and nickel-alloy welds and thickness surveys on tanks and vessels.

How much does NDT inspection cost in Louisiana?

Atlantis quotes on request. Cost depends on method, quantity, access, travel, crew size, schedule (turnaround or routine) and the report format. Send the scope for a written quote.

Can inspection be done on-stream?

Many thickness surveys, external visual examinations and some weld examinations can be done while the unit runs, within temperature limits and site permits. Doing them before a turnaround reduces outage scope.

Who regulates pipelines in Louisiana?

Intrastate pipelines are overseen by the state pipeline safety programme in the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy, as PHMSA's state partner; PHMSA regulates interstate lines. Agency names have changed recently, so confirm the current authority with the state.

Do you inspect shipyard and offshore fabrication welds?

Yes. UT, RT, MT and VT on structural and pressure welds in Houma, Morgan City and similar yards, to AWS D1.1, ASME or the class and owner specifications that apply.

What happens after a hurricane?

Post-storm inspection usually starts with visual and thickness checks on tanks, piping supports and docks, then targeted NDE where damage is found. Contact us with the assets affected and we will scope a campaign.

Do you provide RBI or fitness-for-service assessments?

No. Atlantis does not offer API 580/581 RBI or API 579 FFS assessments; we provide the inspection data those programmes rely on.

Get a Louisiana inspection scope

A turnaround weld list in Geismar, a tank floor at a Garyville terminal, LNG piping welds in Cameron Parish, a separator survey in the Haynesville or yard welds in Houma all start the same way: send the asset, method, code and dates. Get a quote for NDT inspection in Louisiana, or talk to our ASNT Level III about method selection. Affordable. Accessible. Fully customizable. See also all inspection services.

More Atlantis NDT services in Louisiana

• NDT training and certification in Louisiana
• Level III consulting in Louisiana
• NDT ERP software in Louisiana
• Practical NDT simulator in Louisiana