NDT Level III Consulting Services in Poland

Short answer: Atlantis NDT provides ASNT NDT Level III consulting for Polish companies that work to US codes or supply US customers: SNT-TC-1A written practices and audits, procedures and technique sheets to ASME, API and AWS, examinations under your written practice, outside-agency and interim Level III cover, and audit preparation. Anoop Rayavarapu, ASNT NDT Level III and founder of Atlantis NDT, leads each engagement, remotely or onsite at your facility. Atlantis has no office in Poland and holds no Polish accreditation or UDT authorisation.

Poland has a long-established national NDT certification system built on PN-EN ISO 9712. Personnel are certified by accredited bodies such as UDT-CERT, which grew out of work by the Polish Society for NDT and Technical Diagnostics (PTBN) and the Office of Technical Inspection, and the certification centre at the Łukasiewicz Research Network's welding institute in Gliwice. Atlantis does not certify anyone to PN-EN ISO 9712 and does not train toward it. Our work is the US-facing part of Polish industry, which is growing fast: aero-engine and helicopter plants owned by or supplying American OEMs in the Podkarpacie region, the first Polish nuclear power plant being prepared with US reactor technology, energy and petrochemical projects delivered by US engineering contractors, and fabricators exporting to US clients. If your programme needs SNT-TC-1A documents or a named ASNT Level III, request a Poland Level III consultation.

Why Polish NDT programmes need a Level III

Direct answer: A Polish employer that certifies NDT staff under ASNT SNT-TC-1A needs a written practice approved by a Level III, a procedure for every method and a Level III to examine and certify Level I and II personnel. Polish suppliers to US OEMs and US-code projects are expected to name that Level III and produce the records behind each certification at audit.

Aerospace is the strongest US link. The Aviation Valley cluster around Rzeszów in south-eastern Poland is one of Europe's densest aerospace manufacturing regions. Pratt & Whitney has major engine-component operations in Rzeszów, PZL Mielec is owned by Lockheed Martin and builds Black Hawk helicopters and aerostructures, and Safran and many Polish-owned machine shops, foundries and special-process houses supply engine and airframe parts. These plants run penetrant, magnetic particle, ultrasonic, eddy current and radiographic inspection to American and European OEM specifications, usually with NAS 410 or EN 4179 personnel requirements and Nadcap accreditation for special processes.

Nuclear is the newest. Poland selected the Westinghouse AP1000 design for its first nuclear power plant at Lubiatowo-Kopalino in Pomerania, with Westinghouse and Bechtel as the technology and construction partners. The state project company, Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe, submitted its construction licence application to the national nuclear regulator in March 2026, with preparatory works under way on site; first nuclear concrete is expected later in the decade. A US-designed reactor brings US codes into the supply chain, notably ASME Section III for components and ASME Section XI for in-service inspection, and Polish fabricators and inspection companies that want to take part will be asked how their NDT personnel are qualified. Most of that work is years away, but programmes take time to build.

Energy and process industry form the backbone. Orlen's refinery at Płock is the largest in Poland, and the Gdańsk refinery, now part of the Orlen group, has Saudi Aramco as a minority shareholder. Chemical complexes operate at Police, Puławy, Kędzierzyn-Koźle and Włocławek. Gas infrastructure includes the LNG terminal in Świnoujście, the planned floating LNG terminal in the Gulf of Gdańsk, the Gaz-System transmission network and the Baltic Pipe from Norway via Denmark. Large coal and gas-fired power stations at Bełchatów, Kozienice, Opole and elsewhere, many under conversion or modernisation, need boiler, piping and turbine inspection. Offshore wind is the new growth sector: projects such as Baltic Power, Baltica 2 and Bałtyk 2 and 3 are bringing foundation, cable and substation work to the Baltic coast, with port and fabrication activity in Gdańsk, Gdynia and Szczecin, where shipyards also build and repair vessels and offshore units. Steelmaking in Dąbrowa Górnicza and Częstochowa, copper mining and smelting around Lubin and Głogów, and a large fabrication industry exporting to Germany and Scandinavia complete the picture.

Regulation is distinctive. The Office of Technical Inspection (UDT) supervises pressure equipment and other technical devices in operation, including periodic inspection, while the Transport Technical Inspection (TDT) covers transport equipment, and pressure equipment placed on the market must meet the Pressure Equipment Directive 2014/68/EU. Industrial radiography requires authorisation from the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) under the Atomic Law, and PAA is also the nuclear safety regulator. The Polish Centre for Accreditation (PCA) accredits certification bodies, inspection bodies and laboratories. None of these requires SNT-TC-1A. US customers, US codes and US contractors often do, and that is where an ASNT Level III consulting service fits.

PN-EN ISO 9712 or SNT-TC-1A: which applies to Polish work?

Direct answer: PN-EN ISO 9712, with UDT-CERT and the Gliwice certification centre as the main certification bodies, is the Polish default and covers most EU-code and domestic work. SNT-TC-1A applies when a US code, owner, contractor or customer requires employer-based certification. Aerospace runs on NAS 410 or EN 4179. Many Polish companies need two or three of these side by side.

ISO 9712 places certification with an accredited third party; the certificate belongs to the technician. SNT-TC-1A makes the employer responsible, certifying staff under its own written practice with examinations administered by a Level III; certification ends when employment ends. ASME Section V generally refers to SNT-TC-1A or CP-189 for personnel qualification, so ASME Section VIII vessels, B31.3 piping and, in future, ASME Section III nuclear components built in Poland will tend to bring SNT-TC-1A or CP-189 with them, unless the contract states otherwise.

The usual answer is a hybrid written practice: existing PN-EN ISO 9712 training and experience is credited, employer-specific and practical examinations are added where a US contract requires them, and a responsible Level III is named. That avoids retraining certified staff while giving an American auditor the document they expect to see.

Level III services for Polish employers

Direct answer: Atlantis delivers the Level III functions Polish companies need for SNT-TC-1A and US-code work: written practices and audits, procedures and technique sheets, examinations, outside-agency and interim Level III cover, and audit preparation. Each engagement is scoped on a call around your methods, codes and customers.

All service lines are on the consulting overview. Sector pages: aerospace Level III audit support, nuclear Level III audit support, shipbuilding Level III audit support and LNG Level III audit support.

Written practice development and audits

Direct answer: The written practice is your company's own rulebook for training, examining, certifying and recertifying NDT staff. Under SNT-TC-1A it is the document an auditor checks first. We draft it to match how your Polish operation actually works, then audit your certification records against it.

Polish NDT technicians are generally well trained and hold ISO 9712 certificates, so the gap is rarely competence. The gap is that the quality system was built around third-party certification, and when a US customer asks for an employer-based written practice there is nothing to show. Translating an American template word for word causes its own problems: references to arrangements that do not exist in Poland, methods the company does not use, and examination rules nobody follows. A written practice has to be written for the company that will live with it, and it often needs to exist in both Polish and English so that technicians and auditors can both use it.

The written practices we prepare cover:

• Scope: methods, techniques, products and the codes or specifications that apply.
• Duties and signature authority for trainee, Level I, Level II and Level III.
• Training and experience requirements, cross-referenced to the training requirements matrix, with explicit rules for crediting PN-EN ISO 9712 training and experience.
• Examinations: general, specific and practical; grading; retests; who administers each.
• Vision examinations and their interval.
• Records, retention and access.
• Interrupted service, revocation, recertification and outside-agency arrangements.

An audit samples certification files and checks each element the document requires, then returns numbered findings with clause references and fixes. Background is on written practice development, written practices for nuclear power and SNT-TC-1A certification guidance.

Procedures, technique sheets and code compliance in Poland

Direct answer: Each NDT method needs a procedure that satisfies the governing code, and production work usually needs technique sheets for specific parts or welds. In Poland that means PN-EN and ISO standards for domestic and EU work, ASME and AWS on US contracts, OEM specifications in aerospace, and owner practices in refining and power.

• Aerospace. Penetrant and magnetic particle lines, immersion and contact UT of forgings and machined parts, eddy current on holes and surfaces, and radiography of castings and welds, all to OEM specifications. See Nadcap AC7114 audit readiness and written practices for aerospace.
• Nuclear supply chain. ASME Section III components need NDT performed under Section V with personnel qualified as Section III and the contract require. Polish fabricators preparing for the AP1000 programme can start by aligning procedures and personnel documents now; we can help with that preparation, not with nuclear qualification or regulatory approvals.
• Refining and chemicals. Turnaround inspection at Płock, Gdańsk and the chemical complexes: corrosion mapping with PAUT, weld inspection after repair, exchanger and tank inspection under owner practices that often follow API 510, 570 and 653. See refining Level III audit support and petrochemical Level III audit support.
• Offshore wind and shipbuilding. Thick-section structural welds in foundations, towers and substations, and hull and outfitting work, to EN ISO 17640, ISO 5817, DNV and class rules, with AWS D1.1 added on some US-contract work. See offshore Level III audit support.
• Gas and LNG. Pipeline girth welds, terminal piping and cryogenic tanks under operator specifications. See pipeline Level III audit support.
• Power generation. Boiler tubes, headers, high-energy piping and turbine components at large coal and gas stations. See power generation Level III audit support.
• Steel, metals and mining. Mill equipment, rolls, plate and heavy mining machinery. See mining Level III audit support.

Our procedure development service produces procedures with defined essential variables, calibration and reference standards, coverage, recording and evaluation rules and acceptance criteria, and plans performance demonstrations where PAUT or TOFD applications need them. An existing Polish procedure can often be kept and given a US-code annex rather than rewritten.

Outsourced and interim Level III for Polish crews

Direct answer: An outside-agency Level III, called a responsible Level 3 by many European buyers, is a qualified Level III who is not your employee but formally holds the Level III duties in your written practice. For Polish companies with a growing but part-time SNT-TC-1A workload, this is usually the most practical model.

The arrangement has to be documented: the written practice names the outside agency, defines what the Level III approves, sets how examinations are administered and graded, and states who keeps records. We write that language at the start.

• Ongoing outside-agency Level III. Written practice ownership, procedure approvals, examinations, technical queries and customer audits on a standing basis.
• Project-based work. A defined deliverable such as a written practice for a first US order, a procedure package for an offshore wind contract or technique sheets for a new aerospace part family.
• Audit-preparation sprint. A focused review before a scheduled US customer, OEM or EPC audit.

For aerospace programmes under NAS 410 or EN 4179, whether an external ASNT Level III may act as your responsible Level 3 is decided by your customer and the relevant aerospace NDT board; confirm before you appoint anyone. When a Level III leaves at short notice, interim Level III cover keeps approvals and examinations moving. Ask about outside-agency Level 3 cover for your Polish team.

Audit readiness: customer, owner and accreditation audits

Direct answer: Polish NDT employers face US OEM and EPC audits, owner audits at refineries, power stations and energy projects, UDT oversight of equipment in service, and PCA accreditation assessments for inspection bodies and laboratories. Atlantis prepares the NDT programme evidence: written practice, procedures, certification files and Level III records.

A US customer audit follows a part or weld back through the report to the procedure, its Level III approval, the technician's certification file and the equipment calibration. Owner audits add site approvals and witness points. PCA assessments of ISO/IEC 17020 inspection bodies and ISO/IEC 17025 laboratories are a separate process in which Atlantis has no role, though we can make sure the NDT technical content an assessor samples is coherent and traceable. UDT's statutory role over equipment is likewise untouched; we support the NDT behind it.

A readiness review confirms that:

• The written practice reflects current methods, staff and customers.
• Every certified technician's file is complete, in date and correctly signed.
• Each procedure in use is current, approved and cited on reports.
• Equipment and reference standards are calibrated and traceable.
• The Level III arrangement is documented, in both languages where needed.

Where in Poland we support NDT programmes

Direct answer: Atlantis works with Polish companies remotely and onsite at their facilities. The main clusters are Podkarpacie's Aviation Valley, the Pomeranian coast, Masovia and Płock, Upper Silesia and Lesser Poland, Lower Silesia, and West Pomerania.

Rzeszów, Mielec and Podkarpacie. Aero-engine and helicopter manufacturing for US and European OEMs and a deep supply chain of machine shops, foundries and special-process houses. The strongest demand for US-aligned NDT documentation in the country.

Gdańsk, Gdynia and Pomerania. The Gdańsk refinery, shipyards, offshore wind ports and fabrication, the planned FSRU, and the nuclear site at Lubiatowo-Kopalino. Existing Atlantis pages for this area include NDT training in Gdańsk, third-party inspection in Gdańsk, NDT ERP for Gdańsk and digital twins in Gdańsk.

Płock, Warsaw and Masovia. Orlen's Płock refinery and petrochemical complex, the Kozienice power station, and the head offices of energy companies, EPCs and inspection firms in Warsaw.

Katowice, Gliwice, Kraków and southern Poland. Steel, coke, power, heavy fabrication and engineering, plus the certification centre in Gliwice. See third-party inspection in Katowice.

Wrocław, Lubin and Lower Silesia. Copper mining and smelting, aerospace and automotive suppliers, and the Turów and Opole power stations in the wider south-west.

Szczecin, Police and Świnoujście. The LNG terminal, the Police chemical complex, shipyards and offshore wind logistics. For more on Atlantis in Poland see Atlantis NDT Poland; for neighbouring markets see Germany.

How an engagement works

Direct answer: Engagements start with a scoping call, continue with a review of your documents and records, and deliver written practices, procedures, examinations or audit support. Most work is remote; onsite visits are planned for practical examinations, demonstrations and audits. A quote follows the call.

1. Scoping call. Methods, staff, schemes in use (PN-EN ISO 9712, NAS 410 or EN 4179, SNT-TC-1A), customers, codes and deadlines.
2. Document request. Current written practice or quality procedure, NDT procedures, sample certification files and customer requirements, in Polish or English.
3. Review and plan. Gaps, deliverables, sequence and onsite needs agreed in writing.
4. Delivery. Documents drafted in English, reviewed with your team and issued under revision control; your team can maintain a Polish working translation.
5. Examinations. General and specific examinations remotely under controlled conditions where your written practice allows; practical examinations onsite on real specimens.
6. Ongoing support. Outside-agency Level III service for approvals, questions, recertification and audits.

Pricing is quote on request: affordable, accessible and fully customisable. Request a quote for Level III support in Poland.

Your Level III

Engagements are led by Anoop Rayavarapu, ASNT NDT Level III and founder of Atlantis NDT, the named Level III on documents Atlantis prepares and approves. Atlantis also offers ASNT SNT-TC-1A-based NDT training, available online or onsite, the Practical NDT simulator for practice before practical examinations, and an NDT ERP that keeps PN-EN ISO 9712, NAS 410 and ASNT certifications in one register. None of these replaces ISO 9712 certification by an accredited Polish body.

Frequently asked questions about NDT Level III consulting in Poland

Is ASNT SNT-TC-1A recognised in Poland?

It is not the national scheme; PN-EN ISO 9712 is. SNT-TC-1A is recognised wherever a contract, code or customer requires it, most often ASME and AWS work, US-designed plants and supply to US OEMs.

Who certifies NDT personnel to ISO 9712 in Poland?

Accredited certification bodies, including UDT-CERT and the certification centre of the Łukasiewicz Research Network in Gliwice. Atlantis does not certify to ISO 9712.

Can an ASNT Level III be our responsible Level 3?

For an SNT-TC-1A programme, yes, as an outside agency named in your written practice. For aerospace work under NAS 410 or EN 4179, your customer and the relevant aerospace NDT board decide; confirm before appointing anyone.

Will the AP1000 project require SNT-TC-1A?

Each contract will set its own personnel qualification requirements. Because the plant is a US design built to ASME codes, suppliers should expect ASME Section V-based requirements, which generally reference SNT-TC-1A or CP-189; confirm against the actual contract documents when they arrive.

Who licenses industrial radiography in Poland?

The President of the National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) authorises activities involving ionising radiation, including industrial radiography, under the Atomic Law.

What is UDT's role in NDT?

UDT, the Office of Technical Inspection, supervises pressure equipment and other technical devices in service, including periodic inspection, and its certification arm UDT-CERT certifies NDT personnel to ISO 9712. Atlantis has no UDT authorisation and does not perform statutory inspection.

Does Atlantis offer ISO 9712 training in Poland?

No. Atlantis training is ASNT SNT-TC-1A-based only. We can recognise existing ISO 9712 certificates and experience inside an SNT-TC-1A written practice where the rules allow.

Can documents be prepared in Polish?

Atlantis prepares documents in English, the language US customers and auditors expect. Your team can maintain a controlled Polish working translation, and we can review that it matches the approved English version.

Can examinations be done remotely?

General and specific written examinations can be administered remotely under controlled conditions defined in your written practice. Practical examinations need real specimens and take place onsite.

How much does Level III consulting cost in Poland?

Quote on request. It depends on the methods, the state of your documents, how many staff need examination and whether onsite days are needed.

Do you support API-style inspection programmes at Polish refineries?

We support the NDT side of API 510, 570 and 653 style programmes: technique selection, procedure review and data quality. See API 510 support, API 570 support and API 653 support. We do not sell risk-based inspection or fitness-for-service assessments.

Does Atlantis have an office in Poland?

No. Atlantis supports Polish clients remotely and travels to your facility for onsite work.

Talk to a Level III about your Polish NDT programme

If a US OEM, EPC, code or customer is asking your Polish team for an SNT-TC-1A written practice, US-code procedures or a named Level III, start with a short call. Book a Level III consultation for Poland or ask about a written practice for your first US order.

More Atlantis NDT services in Poland

• NDT ERP software in Poland
• Practical NDT simulator in Poland