NDT Simulator and Hands-On Practical Training in Augusta

The Central Savannah River Area is nuclear country. Downriver from Augusta in Burke County, Plant Vogtle now runs four reactors, with Units 3 and 4 entering commercial operation in 2023 and 2024. Across the river in South Carolina, the Savannah River Site is one of the Department of Energy’s largest industrial complexes. Around them sit paper mills, chemical plants and heavy manufacturers, all of which need welds, piping, vessels and heat-exchanger tubes inspected to a demanding standard. Atlantis built the first-ever online practical NDT simulation portal for practice and hands-on experience, and Practical NDT puts that portal in the hands of Augusta’s inspection workforce: an immersive, 3D, game-like platform, used from a browser or the app, where technicians work realistic jobs in a welding workshop, a process plant, a storage tank and an NDT lab. It spans twelve methods, from phased array and TOFD to IRIS and PMI, and adapts from a first-week trainee to a working Level III who wants to benchmark a crew before an outage.

Why Hands-On NDT Practice Matters for Augusta’s Nuclear and Power Work

Nuclear and power generation inspection work has a rhythm that makes skill retention hard. A great deal of the most demanding NDT happens in concentrated bursts during refuelling and maintenance outages, when crews arrive, work intensively for weeks on piping welds, vessel components, steam generator and heat-exchanger tubing, and supports, and then disperse. Between outages, a technician may spend months on routine or unrelated work. The specific pattern-recognition skill needed to tell a genuine planar flaw in an austenitic weld from geometry or grain noise is exactly the kind of skill that fades during that gap.

Nuclear work also has a very low tolerance for error and very limited opportunity for improvised practice. You cannot rehearse on plant components; access is controlled, radiation dose is managed carefully, and every minute in the field is planned. Qualified specimens with representative flaws are valuable, carefully controlled items. Newer technicians often have fewer chances to handle realistic flawed samples than they need.

Augusta’s process industries share a version of the same problem. Paper mills, chemical plants and manufacturers run on turnaround schedules, and much of their inspection, from IRIS on heat-exchanger bundles to thickness surveys on digesters and tanks, happens in compressed windows. A simulator gives inspectors a place to rehearse beforehand: calibrate, scan, interpret, get scored and repeat. Arriving at an outage with judgement already warmed up is safer for the plant and better for the technician.

Practical NDT Environments That Match the CSRA

Practical NDT offers five workplace environments. For Augusta, four do most of the work.

The Welding Workshop, with 52 jobs on weld coupons and fabrication joints, is central for power-plant and nuclear-adjacent work. It is where technicians drill angle-beam UT, phased array and TOFD on weld geometry, practising the detection and characterisation of lack of fusion, incomplete penetration, porosity, slag and cracking, along with surface methods on weld caps and toes.

The Oil & Gas Site, with 73 jobs, is a process-plant environment covering weld, corrosion, tube and screening practice. For Augusta, it stands in for the chemical plants, paper mills and balance-of-plant systems at generating stations: heat-exchanger tube inspection with IRIS, alloy verification with PMI, corrosion mapping on piping and guided-wave screening on long runs.

The Storage Tank environment lets inspectors run UT shell thickness surveys and MFL floor screening on a full-size tank, which fits water treatment, chemical storage and fuel tanks across the region. The NDT Lab, with 52 jobs on bench specimens and reference blocks, is where calibration discipline and method fundamentals are built and refreshed. The fifth environment, the Aircraft Hangar (54 jobs), is available for the region’s aviation maintenance and military aviation support work.

Methods You Can Practise: PAUT, TOFD, IRIS and More

Practical NDT covers twelve methods. The volumetric group matters most in Augusta: contact UT, PAUT, TOFD and RT. The ultrasonic testing simulator builds calibration, sensitivity setting and sizing skills. The phased array simulator lets inspectors set up sector and linear scans, choose sensible scan plans for weld geometry, and interpret indications, including the confusing signals that come from weld root geometry and mode-converted echoes. TOFD scenarios train the eye for diffracted tip signals and the patterns that separate planar from volumetric flaws. Radiography scenarios build exposure and interpretation judgement without any radiation source.

The advanced group is IRIS, LRUT and PMI. IRIS internal rotary UT scenarios cover heat-exchanger and boiler tubes, including wall loss, pitting and the importance of cleanliness and centring. LRUT guided-wave scenarios cover screening long pipe runs for corrosion. PMI scenarios cover alloy verification, which is essential wherever stainless and alloy materials must be confirmed before installation or return to service.

The surface group is PT, MT and VT, the everyday tools on weld caps, pump and valve bodies and structural steel. The electromagnetic group is ET and MFL, covering surface crack detection and tank floor screening.

Each job is scored instantly on setup, coverage, detection, sizing and characterisation, and false calls, which is what turns repetition into measurable skill.

Built for Every Skill Level

New trainees begin with the 33 guided lessons, which explain what each method is doing physically and then walk through practical setup, calibration and scanning. The early scenarios prompt and explain; later ones remove the prompts so the trainee must make decisions independently. That is a good fit for employers bringing people in from technical colleges and welding programmes in the Augusta area.

Working technicians use rare-defect refreshers between assignments. A UT Level II returning to outage work can spend time on the hardest indications, such as cracks at weld roots, flaws near geometric reflectors, or wall loss in tubes, so that they are recognised on sight when they matter.

Level IIIs and team leads can build and assign scenario sets, benchmark crew members against the same jobs objectively, and identify coverage gaps before a crew is mobilised. The scenario library was designed by Anoop Rayavarapu, ASNT NDT Level III and founder of Atlantis NDT, who also leads Atlantis training.

How It Complements Formal ASNT Training and Qualification

Practical NDT is a practice and readiness tool. It is not a certification, and it does not replace the hands-on practical examination on real specimens required by an employer’s written practice under ASNT SNT-TC-1A. The employer certifies its personnel after documented training, experience, and written and practical exams using real equipment on real parts. The simulator does not grant any level.

Instead, it helps candidates prepare. They can rehearse the complete sequence of an NDT practical exam as often as they need, then use the same platform to stay proficient afterwards. Atlantis offers formal NDT training and certification support aligned to SNT-TC-1A, and Practical NDT sits alongside it. Local employers in nuclear power may also require additional qualification under their own programmes, such as ASME Section XI performance demonstration for certain ultrasonic examinations; that is market context about what the industry asks for, and Practical NDT is simply practice that makes candidates better prepared for whatever qualification path their employer follows.

The Augusta Region: Vogtle, Savannah River Site, Fort Eisenhower and Process Industry

Plant Vogtle, near Waynesboro in Burke County, is the anchor of the region’s power generation. With Units 3 and 4 now in operation alongside the original two units, Georgia Power describes it as the largest generator of clean energy in the nation. The construction of the new units drew a large skilled construction and inspection workforce to the area, and operating four reactors sustains ongoing demand for in-service inspection, maintenance welding and outage support.

Across the Savannah River, the Savannah River Site occupies land in Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell counties in South Carolina, about 25 miles southeast of Augusta. Built in the 1950s, it has hosted reactors, chemical separation plants and fuel fabrication facilities, and today supports environmental management and national security missions. Its workforce lives on both sides of the river, and a significant share of Columbia County residents have historically worked there.

Augusta is also home to Fort Eisenhower, formerly Fort Gordon, the Army’s cyber centre, and to a manufacturing base that includes paper products, chemicals, transportation equipment and food processing. Pulp and paper mills in particular are heavy users of tank, piping, digester and heat-exchanger inspection. Augusta Regional Airport supports aviation maintenance activity as well.

For radiography, Georgia is an NRC Agreement State, and the Radioactive Materials Program of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division licenses industrial radiography in the state. Work across the river in South Carolina falls under that state’s own radiation control programme, and nuclear plant work additionally sits within the federal NRC’s oversight of reactor licensees. Practical NDT’s radiography scenarios use no source at all, which makes them a safe way to build interpretation skill before trainees work under a real licence.

Building an Outage-Ready NDT Workforce in the Central Savannah River Area

The construction of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 pulled thousands of skilled trades into Burke, Richmond and Columbia counties, and many of the welders, fitters and quality people who came for that project have stayed in the region. That has left the CSRA with an unusual workforce profile: a large pool of people who understand nuclear-grade quality culture and welding, but who are not all current on inspection methods, plus a smaller group of experienced NDT technicians who are in heavy demand every time a unit, a mill or a chemical plant goes down for maintenance. Employers here are constantly trying to turn the first group into the second, and to keep the second group sharp.

Local technical colleges on both sides of the river, including Augusta Technical College in Georgia and Aiken Technical College in South Carolina, train welders and industrial technicians, and the Savannah River Site and the generating stations have long pulled graduates into quality and inspection roles. What those graduates usually lack is not theory but repetition: enough hours on an instrument, looking at enough real indications, to build fast and reliable judgement. That is the gap Practical NDT is designed to fill.

A practical way to use the platform in the CSRA is to organise practice around the maintenance calendar rather than around the classroom. In the weeks before a refuelling outage or a mill shutdown, a Level III can assign a focused scenario set: angle-beam UT and PAUT on weld coupons in the Welding Workshop, TOFD on thicker sections, IRIS on heat-exchanger tubes and PMI on alloy piping in the Oil & Gas Site. Each crew member works through the set from home or the break room, on a browser or the app, and the lead reviews objective scores before mobilisation. Anyone who struggles with a particular indication type gets extra practice or is paired with a stronger colleague on site. Once the outage is over, the same people move on to maintenance scenarios so their skills do not decay in the quiet months.

For newer people, the path is different. A welder moving into inspection can begin with visual and penetrant lessons on the weld caps they already understand, move to magnetic particle on carbon-steel joints, then progress to contact UT on bench specimens in the NDT Lab before tackling phased array. Because the 33 guided lessons are structured and the scenarios get harder as performance improves, trainees can progress at their own pace without tying up an experienced technician for every session. Their supervisor can see exactly where they are.

Paper and chemical plants in the region benefit from the same approach during turnarounds. Digesters, tanks, piping and exchanger bundles all see concentrated inspection in short windows, and the Storage Tank environment gives inspectors practice at thickness grids and floor screening before they climb into a real vessel. In every case, the principle is the same: practise the rare, difficult calls in simulation, so the real ones on real equipment are handled calmly and correctly. That is especially valuable in a region where the consequences of a missed indication, at a reactor, a DOE facility or a pressurised process unit, are so high.

Bringing Practical NDT to Your Augusta Team

Practical NDT needs no hardware, specimens or lab space. Technicians log in from a browser or the app, which suits crews that travel between outages. A typical Augusta rollout begins with a demo for the Level III or quality lead, followed by choosing priority environments, usually the Welding Workshop and Oil & Gas Site for power and process work, with the NDT Lab for fundamentals. The lead assigns scenario sets ahead of an outage or turnaround, crew members complete them on their own schedule, and the lead reviews objective results before mobilisation.

Atlantis built the first-ever online practical NDT simulation portal for practice and hands-on experience so that inspectors could build and keep real skill between bursts of demanding work. If you lead an NDT team in the CSRA, request a Practical NDT demo for Augusta. Access is quoted on request; you can ask for a quote for your crew, or read the Practical NDT overview first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Practical NDT replace the practical certification exam?

No. It is a practice and readiness tool. Under ASNT SNT-TC-1A, certification is granted by your employer according to its written practice, and that includes a hands-on practical exam on real specimens with real equipment. Practical NDT helps you prepare and stay proficient; it does not certify you.

What experience level is it for?

All levels. New trainees follow 33 guided lessons; working technicians use rare-defect refreshers between assignments; Level IIIs and team leads build and assign scenario sets, benchmark crews objectively and find coverage gaps.

Is there a phased array simulator suitable for outage preparation?

Yes. The Welding Workshop and Oil & Gas Site environments include PAUT and TOFD jobs on weld geometry, so inspectors can rehearse scan setup and interpretation before arriving on site. It is preparation, not a substitute for any plant-specific qualification your employer requires.

Can we practise heat-exchanger tube inspection?

Yes. IRIS internal rotary UT scenarios cover heat-exchanger and boiler tubes, including wall loss and pitting, which is relevant to both generating stations and the region’s paper and chemical plants.

Can teams on both sides of the river use it?

Yes. Practical NDT is online, so crews in Augusta, Aiken, Waynesboro or anywhere else can use it from a browser or the app. Contact us to discuss how it would fit your programme.

Can a welder with no inspection experience start on Practical NDT?

Yes. A welder moving into inspection can begin with the guided visual, penetrant and magnetic particle lessons on weld coupons, which build directly on what they already know about weld quality, and then progress to ultrasonic methods in the NDT Lab. Formal training, documented experience and the employer’s written and practical exams are still required before certification under SNT-TC-1A.

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