NDT Simulator & Practical NDT Training in Ireland
Ireland's NDT community is small, spread out and busy, which makes it a good fit for what Atlantis built: the first-ever online practical NDT simulation portal for practice and hands-on experience. The Atlantis Practical NDT simulator is an immersive, 3D, game-like platform used in a browser or app. Technicians pick a job in one of five virtual workplaces (an NDT lab, a welding workshop, an aircraft hangar, an oil and gas site and a full-size storage tank), set up the technique, inspect, report and receive a score the moment the job is closed. Irish inspection work is not dominated by one heavy industry. Instead it is shared between the pharmaceutical and biopharma plants of Cork Harbour and the east coast, Ireland's only oil refinery at Whitegate, gas-fired and transitioning power stations, the Corrib gas terminal in Mayo, a world-scale aircraft leasing and maintenance sector around Dublin and Shannon, medical device and semiconductor manufacturing, dairy and drinks processing, and a growing offshore wind pipeline. A technician in Ireland may cover several of those in a year, and the simulator gives them a way to stay current in the methods each one needs.
This is the Ireland hub page. It covers where the work is, which environments and methods match it, how simulator practice relates to EN ISO 9712 and ASNT certification, and how to arrange a demo.
Ireland's NDT workforce and where the work is
Short answer: Irish NDT work concentrates in Cork Harbour (refining, pharma, power), Dublin and the east (aviation, port terminals, power, data-centre construction), the Shannon estuary (aviation services, alumina, power, port), the west (medical devices, Corrib gas) and a scattered base of food, dairy and fabrication plants across the midlands and south.
Cork Harbour. Cork Harbour is Ireland's heaviest industrial zone. Whitegate, at the mouth of the harbour, is the country's only oil refinery, now owned by Irving Oil. Around it sit gas-fired power stations at Aghada and Whitegate, the Port of Cork's terminals, and, at Ringaskiddy, Little Island and Carrigtwohill, a dense cluster of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing plants. The pharma sites run stainless steel reactors, pressure vessels, clean utilities, steam systems and long runs of orbital-welded tubing, all of which need weld inspection during construction and periodic examination in service. The Irish Naval Service base at Haulbowline is also in the harbour.
Dublin and the east coast. Dublin is the centre of the global aircraft leasing industry, and a large share of lessors' technical teams, records specialists and inspection contractors are based in and around the city. Aircraft maintenance at Dublin Airport, lease return inspections and component shops all use NDT. Dublin Port has fuel and chemical tank farms, and Poolbeg hosts power generation and a waste-to-energy plant. North Kildare has a major semiconductor fabrication campus at Leixlip, and the Dublin region has seen sustained data-centre and large-building construction with heavy structural steelwork and site welding. The east coast is also where Ireland's first offshore wind farm, Arklow Bank, sits, and several larger offshore projects are planned off the Irish Sea coast.
The Shannon estuary and the mid-west. Shannon has a long history in aviation, from aircraft leasing to maintenance, component overhaul and aviation services companies on the Shannon Free Zone. Across the estuary, Aughinish in County Limerick operates Europe's largest alumina refinery, a process plant with large tanks, digesters and piping. Moneypoint in County Clare was Ireland's largest power station; coal generation there has ended and the site is being repurposed by ESB, including for backup generation and as a base for future offshore wind. Shannon Foynes is a deep-water port. Limerick itself has a manufacturing base in medical devices, electronics and engineering.
The west and north-west. Galway is one of Europe's largest medical device clusters. Most of that work involves precision components, polymers and metals rather than heavy welds, but quality engineers and inspectors there use visual, penetrant and ultrasonic techniques on parts and tooling. In north Mayo, the Corrib gas field is processed at the Bellanaboy terminal, a modern gas plant with pipelines, vessels and exchangers. Sligo, Donegal and the north-west have smaller engineering and food-processing plants.
The midlands and the south. Dairy, meat and drinks processing are major industries across Tipperary, Kerry, Kilkenny, Waterford and the midlands, with stainless process plant, boilers, evaporators and storage silos that all need inspection. Gas Networks Ireland's transmission pipelines cross the country, linking to interconnectors from Scotland. Steel fabricators and engineering contractors in the midlands supply structural steel and process plant to projects at home and in the UK.
Practical NDT by region in Ireland
Short answer: there are no separate Irish city pages yet, so this hub covers the whole country. The table below shows which environments and methods match each Irish cluster.
| Region | Main local sectors | Environments & methods to practise |
|---|---|---|
| Cork Harbour | Refining, pharma and biopharma, gas power, port, naval base | Oil & Gas Site, Storage Tank, Welding Workshop; UT, IRIS, PMI, PT, RT |
| Dublin and the east | Aircraft leasing and MRO, port tank farms, power, semiconductors, construction, offshore wind | Aircraft Hangar, Storage Tank, Welding Workshop; ET, PT, UT, MFL, PAUT |
| Shannon estuary and Limerick | Aviation services, alumina refining, power, deep-water port, medical devices | Aircraft Hangar, Oil & Gas Site, Storage Tank; ET, UT, MFL, LRUT |
| Galway and the west | Medical devices, precision engineering | NDT Lab; VT, PT, UT, ET |
| Mayo (Corrib) | Gas processing terminal, pipelines | Oil & Gas Site; UT, PAUT, IRIS, LRUT, PMI |
| Midlands and the south | Dairy and food processing, gas transmission, steel fabrication | Welding Workshop, NDT Lab; VT, PT, MT, UT, RT |
Cork Harbour. The refinery at Whitegate brings the classic plant workload: thickness surveys and corrosion mapping on piping and vessels, IRIS on exchanger tubes during turnarounds, PMI on alloy lines and MFL floor screening on crude and product tanks. The pharma plants bring something different: inspection of thin-wall stainless welds and pressure equipment, where penetrant, visual and radiographic or ultrasonic weld inspection are common. The simulator covers both ends. Technicians who move between a refinery turnaround and a pharma plant shutdown in the same year can keep both sets of skills alive.
Dublin and the east. Aviation dominates. Eddy current around fastener holes and on wheels, penetrant on components, UT on structures and detailed visual inspection all map to the Aircraft Hangar environment and its 54 jobs. Port tank farms suit the Storage Tank environment, and structural steel and offshore wind fabrication suit weld inspection in the Welding Workshop, including PAUT on thicker sections.
Shannon and Limerick. Aviation services in Shannon need the same airframe and component skills as Dublin. Aughinish and the power and port facilities on the estuary need plant inspection: large tanks, caustic and slurry piping, digesters and heaters, where UT thickness work, MFL tank floor screening and LRUT screening of long pipe runs are the most relevant.
Galway and the west. Medical device manufacturing is less about field NDT and more about quality inspection, but staff who carry out visual, penetrant or ultrasonic checks can build method fundamentals in the NDT Lab's guided lessons.
Mayo. The Corrib terminal and its pipelines need in-service inspection of a modern gas plant. The Oil & Gas Site environment, with 73 jobs, covers the weld, corrosion, tube and screening work involved, including PMI on alloy components.
The midlands and the south. Food and dairy plants rely on clean stainless welds and on boilers and evaporators that are examined periodically. Steel fabricators need weld inspection with MT, UT and RT on structural and pressure work. The Welding Workshop and NDT Lab cover both.
Environments and methods that match Irish work
Short answer: the Aircraft Hangar and Oil & Gas Site environments carry most of the weight in Ireland, followed by the Welding Workshop for pharma, food and fabrication welds, the Storage Tank for terminals and plant tank farms, and the NDT Lab for fundamentals.
Practical NDT includes five environments, twelve methods and 33 guided lessons. The methods are PT, MT and VT on the surface side; contact UT, PAUT, TOFD and RT on the volumetric side; ET and MFL as electromagnetic methods; and three specialist techniques, LRUT guided-wave screening, IRIS internal rotary UT for heat-exchanger and boiler tubes, and PMI for alloy verification.
- Aircraft Hangar (54 jobs): airframe and component inspection. The most important environment for Dublin and Shannon, where leasing, maintenance and component work all depend on ET, PT, UT and VT.
- Oil & Gas Site (73 jobs): weld, corrosion, tube and screening practice in a process plant. Relevant to Whitegate, Corrib, Aughinish and the gas-fired power stations.
- Welding Workshop (52 jobs): weld coupons and fabrication joints. Relevant to pharma and food process plant construction, structural steelwork, pipeline welding and offshore wind fabrication.
- Storage Tank: UT shell thickness surveys and MFL floor screening on a full-size tank. Relevant to the refinery, port terminals in Dublin, Cork and Foynes, alumina plant tanks and agri-food storage.
- NDT Lab (52 jobs): bench specimens and reference blocks. Relevant to trainees, to quality staff in medical devices and precision engineering, and to anyone rebuilding fundamentals.
Irish users often ask about stainless steel. Austenitic stainless welds are harder to inspect with ultrasound than carbon steel because of coarse, oriented grain structure, which is one reason radiography and penetrant testing remain common in pharma and food plants. The simulator does not pretend to model every metallurgical effect, but it gives repeated practice on weld geometry, flaw types and interpretation that carry over to real jobs. For aviation users, the value is repetition on the jobs that occur often in maintenance programmes and on the rarer findings that a technician may only see a few times in a career.
Regulators and requirements Irish technicians meet
Short answer: Irish NDT personnel are usually certified to EN ISO 9712, often through PCN; aviation NDT follows EN 4179 under EASA rules; radiography is licensed by the EPA; and workplace pressure equipment falls under the Health and Safety Authority. Practical NDT is practice for any scheme and is not a certification.
Personnel certification. Most Irish technicians working on industrial plant hold EN ISO 9712 certificates, frequently through the UK's PCN scheme, and many weld inspectors also hold CSWIP or similar. Aviation NDT staff are qualified to EN 4179 within the maintenance organisation's approved procedures. Ireland also has a large number of US-headquartered manufacturers, particularly in pharma, medical devices and semiconductors, and some of them specify ASME-code equipment and ASNT SNT-TC-1A qualified personnel through their engineering standards and contractors. Atlantis training covers ASNT SNT-TC-1A only; Atlantis does not provide EN ISO 9712, PCN, CSWIP or EN 4179 training or examinations.
Radiation protection. Under the Radiological Protection Act 1991 and the Ionising Radiation Regulations 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency is Ireland's national regulator for ionising radiation. The EPA uses a graded system of registration and licensing, and industrial radiography is among the practices that must be licensed. Licensees are inspected by the EPA and must follow its guidance, and transport of radioactive sources also needs authorisation. None of this applies to simulator practice, which involves no radiation, but it is the reason hands-on radiography practice is so tightly controlled and why interpretation practice in a simulator is useful.
Pressure equipment and workplace safety. The Health and Safety Authority enforces workplace safety law in Ireland, including the requirement in the general application regulations for pressure systems to be examined by a competent person, and the Irish regulations that transpose the EU Pressure Equipment Directive 2014/68/EU for new equipment. Large chemical and fuel sites also fall under the Seveso III major accident regime, enforced by the HSA as central competent authority. In practice, NDT forms part of many statutory examinations and of the integrity programmes those sites operate.
Aviation and gas. Aviation safety oversight sits with the Irish Aviation Authority under EASA rules, and Part-145 maintenance organisations control NDT personnel through their exposition and procedures. Gas safety and network regulation involve the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. Codes in daily use range from EN ISO weld testing standards and EN 13445 for pressure vessels to ASME Section VIII and B31.3 on US-specified plants.
For procedure, technique and written-practice support on US-code projects in Ireland, see Atlantis NDT Level III consulting. Inspection companies that need to track EN ISO 9712, PCN, EN 4179 and ASNT certificates together can use the Atlantis ERP.
For trainees, working technicians and Level IIIs in Ireland
Short answer: trainees use guided lessons to prepare for supervised site work, technicians use the job library to refresh methods and rare defects, and Level IIIs use scenario sets to benchmark staff and contractors.
Trainees. Ireland does not have a large dedicated NDT training infrastructure, and many people come into the field from welding, mechanical fitting, aircraft maintenance or engineering degrees. Getting real scanning time early is often the hardest part. The 33 guided lessons start with fundamentals in the NDT Lab, using reference blocks and calibration exercises, then move into weld coupons and realistic plant and aircraft jobs. Trainees can repeat the same job until they understand what went wrong, which is rarely possible with a borrowed specimen and a busy supervisor.
Working technicians. Irish technicians are often generalists. A contractor might do pharma weld inspection one month, a refinery turnaround the next and a power station outage after that. A leasing-sector inspector might work on several aircraft types. The job library includes rare and hard-to-source flaws, such as cracking at weld toes, tube wall loss at supports, corrosion under insulation, lack of fusion and fatigue cracking around fastener holes, so technicians can stay sharp on the findings that matter most when they finally appear.
Level IIIs and team leads. A responsible Level 3 or Level III can put together scenario sets that mirror upcoming work, assign them to staff or incoming contractors, and compare results. That helps with decisions about who goes to which site, where refresher training is needed and whether a procedure is understood the same way by everyone. In a country where many crews are assembled from several companies for a shutdown, having a common, objective benchmark is particularly useful.
Practice vs certification
Short answer: Practical NDT does not certify anyone. It is a practice and readiness tool that complements formal training and the practical examination on real specimens required by EN ISO 9712, EN 4179 or an employer's SNT-TC-1A written practice.
Whatever scheme an Irish technician works to, certification depends on training hours, supervised industrial experience and examinations, including a practical examination on real specimens. Under EN ISO 9712 those exams are set by a certification body through authorised examination centres; under ASNT SNT-TC-1A the employer administers them according to its written practice; under EN 4179 the employer's responsible Level 3 or an outside agency controls them. Simulator practice is not a substitute for any of that, and it is not counted as industrial experience unless an employer chooses to recognise it in its own procedures.
The simulator's job is to make the formal steps go better. A trainee who has worked dozens of virtual jobs arrives at a practical exam familiar with set-up, scanning and interpretation. A supervisor has another way to see whether someone is ready. A technician returning from a long spell in one method can warm up on another before a job. For formal ASNT SNT-TC-1A training, see Atlantis NDT training.
A small, spread-out workforce: why virtual practice suits Ireland
Short answer: Ireland's NDT technicians are relatively few, spread across the country and often travel between very different sites, and physical practice facilities are limited. A browser-based simulator removes the need to travel to practise.
Compared with larger European countries, Ireland has a small NDT workforce relative to the variety of industries it serves. Inspection companies tend to be compact, technicians travel widely, and many also work in the UK or on the continent. That makes it hard to maintain a training room with a full set of flawed specimens for every method, and harder still to get technicians into it at the right moment.
The industries themselves add pressure. Pharma and biopharma plants plan shutdowns tightly around production schedules. The refinery and power stations run outages where every day matters. Aircraft maintenance and lease return checks run to fixed timelines. When the work comes, there is little room for someone to learn on the job, and a technician who has not used a method for months is at a disadvantage.
There is also growth to plan for. Offshore wind development off the east and south coasts, grid and interconnector projects, data-centre construction and continuing investment in life-sciences manufacturing all add inspection work. Bringing new people to a useful standard faster, and giving experienced people a structured way to stay sharp, is a practical answer that does not depend on building new facilities.
Because the simulator runs in a browser or app, a technician can practise from home in Cork, a hotel in Shannon or a site office in Mayo. Practice involves no radiation, no confined spaces and no hot work, so mistakes cost nothing but a lower score.
Bring Practical NDT to your Irish team
Short answer: request a demo, tell us what your team inspects, and we will show the matching environments and set up a pilot. Pricing is quote on request.
Atlantis built the first-ever online practical NDT simulation portal for practice and hands-on experience. The scenario library was designed by Anoop Rayavarapu, ASNT NDT Level III and founder of Atlantis NDT. Practical NDT is affordable, accessible and fully customisable, so Irish inspection companies, aviation organisations, plant owners, contractors and colleges can use the standard library or ask for scenario sets built around their own procedures.
Getting started is simple. We have a short call about your work, whether that is pharma shutdowns in Cork, aviation in Dublin and Shannon, plant work at Aughinish or Corrib, or fabrication in the midlands. We demonstrate the relevant environments, agree a pilot group and set up access. There is nothing to install beyond a browser or the app, and team leads can follow results from the start. Delivery is entirely online; Atlantis does not have an Irish training centre.
- Request a Practical NDT demo for Ireland
- Get a quote for an Irish team or cohort
- Talk to us about aviation scenario sets for leasing and MRO work
Frequently asked questions
Is there an NDT simulator available in Ireland?
Yes. The Atlantis Practical NDT simulator is online, so it can be used anywhere in Ireland in a browser or app. Demos are arranged through the contact form.
Does it count towards EN ISO 9712 or PCN certification?
No. It is practice only. EN ISO 9712 and PCN certification need training, industrial experience and examinations through the certification body. Atlantis does not offer EN ISO 9712 or PCN training or exams.
Is it useful for aviation NDT in Dublin and Shannon?
Yes. The Aircraft Hangar environment has 54 jobs covering airframe and component inspection with ET, PT, UT and VT. It supports practice but does not replace EN 4179 qualification or a Part-145 organisation's own requirements.
Does it help with pharma and food plant weld inspection?
Yes. The Welding Workshop covers weld coupons and fabrication joints with surface and volumetric methods, which suits stainless process plant inspection practice.
Can refinery and gas terminal crews use it?
Yes. The Oil & Gas Site and Storage Tank environments cover corrosion, weld, tube, screening, tank shell and tank floor work, including IRIS, PMI, LRUT and MFL.
Does it include radiography?
Yes, with a focus on technique and interpretation. No radiation is involved, so EPA licensing does not apply to simulator practice. Real radiography remains licensed by the EPA.
Can NDT practical exam preparation be done with it?
Yes, as preparation. It builds set-up, scanning, interpretation and sizing habits. The practical exam itself must be taken on real specimens under the relevant scheme.
What experience level is it for?
Every level, from new trainees on guided lessons to working technicians and Level IIIs who build and assign scenario sets.
Does Atlantis offer ASNT training in Ireland?
Yes, ASNT SNT-TC-1A only, delivered online, live-virtual or onsite at the client's facility for employers that need SNT-TC-1A personnel. See training.
Is there an Atlantis office in Ireland?
No. Practical NDT is delivered online, and training and consulting are delivered online, live-virtual or onsite at the client's own facility.
How do we start?
Request a demo and we will agree a pilot. Pricing is quote on request.
Explore more: Practical NDT overview, NDT training, consulting, ERP, contact.