NDT Simulator & Practical NDT Training in New Zealand

Atlantis built the first-ever online practical NDT simulation portal for practice and hands-on experience, and the Atlantis Practical NDT simulator suits New Zealand better than most places. It is an immersive, 3D, game-like platform that runs in a browser or app. A technician opens a job in a virtual NDT lab, welding workshop, aircraft hangar, oil and gas site or full-size storage tank, sets up the technique, carries out the inspection, records the result and gets a score the moment the job closes. New Zealand's inspection work is spread thinly across a long country: Taranaki gas production and petrochemicals, the fuel import terminal at Marsden Point, geothermal power stations around Taupō and Kawerau, hydro schemes on the Waikato and in the South Island, the steel mill at Glenbrook, the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point, dairy and food plants in almost every region, and aircraft maintenance in Auckland and Christchurch. Technicians in small crews often go months without using a particular method, and there are few places to practise on real defects between jobs.

This page is the New Zealand hub for Practical NDT. It maps where the country's NDT work is, which simulator environments match each region, how practice relates to the ISO 9712-based certification most New Zealand employers ask for, which regulators set the rules, and how to arrange a demo for your team. The Auckland Practical NDT page has more city detail.

Where New Zealand's NDT work is, region by region

Short answer: New Zealand NDT demand sits in five clusters: Taranaki energy and petrochemicals, the central North Island geothermal and forestry belt, the Auckland and Northland industrial and aviation base, the Waikato power and steel corridor, and the South Island hydro, smelting, aviation and food-processing sites. Crews are small and travel widely, so one technician may cover several of these in a year.

Taranaki. Almost all of New Zealand's oil and gas comes from the Taranaki basin, onshore and offshore. Production stations, gas treatment plants, pipelines that carry gas north and south, and the methanol plants near Waitara and Motunui keep inspection companies in New Plymouth busy with corrosion monitoring, weld inspection on modifications and shutdown work on pressure equipment. Offshore platforms and floating production add structural and piping inspection, and the gradual decline of older fields brings plugging, abandonment and decommissioning work where the condition of steel has to be checked before it is cut. For Taranaki crews the Oil & Gas Site and Storage Tank environments are the obvious practice ground.

Northland and Auckland. Marsden Point near Whangārei was New Zealand's only oil refinery until refining stopped in 2022; the site now operates as a fuel import terminal, and its large tank farm and the pipeline to Auckland still need regular inspection. Auckland itself has the country's biggest concentration of fabrication shops, structural steel, marine engineering, the naval base at Devonport, the Ports of Auckland and the main international airport with its airline engineering base. The Glenbrook steel mill south of the city, which is moving to electric arc steelmaking, adds heavy industrial work.

Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. Huntly Power Station is the country's largest thermal station, and the Waikato River carries a chain of hydro dams with penstocks, gates and turbines that need periodic inspection. Further east, the central North Island geothermal fields around Wairakei, Ohaaki and Kawerau supply a large share of national electricity. Geothermal steam is aggressive: scaling, erosion and corrosion in wells, separators and steam pipework make wall-thickness surveys and weld inspection routine. Kawerau's pulp and paper mills and the Port of Tauranga, New Zealand's busiest port, round out the region.

Wellington and the lower North Island. Wellington has engineering consultancies, port and ferry infrastructure, and government agencies including the regulators described below. Inspection work around the capital leans to structural steel, bridges, seismic strengthening projects and marine assets.

The South Island. Christchurch is home to major aircraft and engine maintenance and a large manufacturing and food-processing base, as well as the port at Lyttelton. Further south, the Clutha and Waitaki hydro schemes and the Manapouri station have large penstocks and hydraulic structures, and the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter near Bluff is one of the country's largest single industrial sites. Dairy processing plants with stainless steel vessels and pipework run the length of Canterbury, Otago and Southland.

Practical NDT across New Zealand cities and regions

Short answer: Auckland already has its own Practical NDT page. The table below covers Auckland and the other main New Zealand clusters, with the simulator environments and methods that best match the work in each one. Every environment is available to every user; the table simply shows where to start.

Auckland is where most New Zealand inspection companies have their head office, and where trainees usually start. Fabricators building structural steel, pressure equipment and marine structures need weld inspection, so PAUT, TOFD and MT jobs in the Welding Workshop are the core practice. Aviation maintenance at the airport and military aircraft support at Whenuapai make the Aircraft Hangar, with eddy current and penetrant jobs, the second focus. Auckland teams can also use third-party inspection support in Auckland and the Auckland NDT ERP page.

New Plymouth and Taranaki technicians work production stations, gas plants and pipelines where corrosion under insulation, internal corrosion and weld integrity matter most. The Oil & Gas Site environment covers corrosion mapping, weld inspection, LRUT screening of pipe runs, IRIS on exchanger tubes and PMI on alloy lines, which matches a Taranaki shutdown closely. See also the New Plymouth NDT ERP page.

Whangārei and Marsden Point are now mostly about storage and distribution. The Storage Tank environment, with UT shell thickness surveys and MFL floor screening on a full-size tank, is the closest match to terminal work, and it lets technicians practise the systematic coverage a tank survey needs.

The geothermal belt around Taupō, Rotorua and Kawerau has steam pipework, separators and wellhead equipment under constant attack from scaling and erosion. Thickness surveys and corrosion mapping with UT and PAUT, and weld inspection on repairs with PAUT and TOFD, are the practice priorities. Pulp and paper mills add digesters, recovery boilers and tanks.

Hamilton and Huntly crews support thermal and hydro power, so boiler tube inspection, weld inspection on headers and penstocks, and IRIS on condenser and exchanger tubes are relevant. Dairy plants across the Waikato add stainless steel welds where PT and VT matter.

Wellington inspection work is dominated by structures, bridges and seismic strengthening, where MT and UT on structural welds are routine, along with marine assets at the port.

Christchurch is New Zealand's other aviation centre, with heavy aircraft and engine maintenance. The Aircraft Hangar environment, with 54 jobs on airframe and component inspection using ET, PT, UT and VT, is the natural match. Manufacturing and food processing across Canterbury add NDT Lab and Welding Workshop practice.

Southland and Otago combine the Tiwai Point smelter, hydro stations with large penstocks and many dairy plants. Weld inspection on structural steel and penstocks, thickness surveys on tanks and vessels, and PMI on alloy components are useful practice areas.

Environments and methods that match New Zealand work

Short answer: the Atlantis Practical NDT simulator has five environments and twelve methods. In New Zealand, the Oil & Gas Site and Storage Tank environments serve Taranaki and Marsden Point, the Welding Workshop serves fabrication, power and geothermal, the Aircraft Hangar serves Auckland and Christchurch aviation, and the NDT Lab supports trainees everywhere.

The five workplace environments are the NDT Lab (bench specimens and reference blocks, 52 jobs), the Welding Workshop (weld coupons and fabrication joints, 52 jobs), the Aircraft Hangar (airframe and component inspection, 54 jobs), the Oil & Gas Site (weld, corrosion, tube and screening practice in a process plant, 73 jobs) and the Storage Tank (UT shell thickness surveys and MFL floor screening on a full-size tank). Thirty-three guided lessons take a new user through the fundamentals before they move on to jobs.

The twelve methods fall into four groups. Surface methods are penetrant testing (PT), magnetic particle testing (MT) and visual testing (VT). Volumetric methods are contact ultrasonic testing (UT), phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT), time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD) and radiographic testing (RT). Electromagnetic methods are eddy current testing (ET) and magnetic flux leakage (MFL). The advanced group covers long-range ultrasonic testing (LRUT) guided-wave screening, internal rotary inspection system (IRIS) ultrasonic testing of heat-exchanger and boiler tubes, and positive material identification (PMI) for alloy verification.

Geothermal is the one area where New Zealand differs most from other markets. Steam lines and separators lose wall through erosion and corrosion that follows flow patterns, so systematic grid thickness readings and corrosion mapping matter more than they would on a clean hydrocarbon line. The simulator does not model a specific geothermal plant, but the corrosion-mapping and thickness-survey jobs in the Oil & Gas Site and Storage Tank environments train exactly the habits a geothermal survey needs: consistent coverage, careful couplant and probe handling, correct recording and recognising a reading that does not make sense.

Radiography deserves a separate note. RT practice in the simulator focuses on technique selection and image interpretation. No radiation is involved, so practising in the simulator needs no licence under the Radiation Safety Act 2016. Real exposures do, as described below.

Certification, regulators and standards New Zealand technicians work under

Short answer: most New Zealand employers ask for NDT personnel certified under an ISO 9712-based scheme, such as AINDT certification or the New Zealand CBIP scheme, while some work for US-owned plants and US-code projects uses ASNT SNT-TC-1A. Radiation use is regulated under the Radiation Safety Act 2016, and pressure equipment under WorkSafe's regulations.

Personnel certification. New Zealand NDT certification is normally to ISO 9712 (published locally as AS ISO 9712). Technicians commonly hold certificates issued by the Australian Institute for Non-Destructive Testing (AINDT) or by New Zealand's Certification Board for Inspection Personnel (CBIP), and the New Zealand Non-Destructive Testing Association (NZNDTA) supports the local profession. Check the scheme your employer or client names in its contract, because recognition between schemes is not automatic. Atlantis does not train for or issue AINDT, CBIP or any ISO 9712 certificates. Atlantis training is ASNT SNT-TC-1A only, which suits employers whose clients specify SNT-TC-1A, such as US-owned operators or projects built to US codes. Practical NDT, by contrast, is practice in the methods themselves, so it is useful whichever scheme a technician holds.

Radiation safety. The Radiation Safety Act 2016 and the Radiation Safety Regulations 2016 govern the use of radioactive sources and X-ray equipment, including industrial radiography. The Office of Radiation Safety, part of the Ministry of Health, administers the system of source licences and user authorisations. Companies doing site radiography in Taranaki or Auckland need the right licences and authorised operators, plus the employer's own radiation safety procedures. Confirm current requirements with the Office of Radiation Safety before any exposure work.

Workplace health and safety and pressure equipment. WorkSafe New Zealand regulates workplace safety under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. Pressure equipment such as boilers, pressure vessels and piping falls under the Health and Safety at Work (Pressure Equipment, Cranes, and Passenger Ropeways) Regulations, which require design verification and periodic inspection by accredited inspection bodies. In-service inspection commonly references AS/NZS 3788. Major hazard facilities, including some fuel and chemical sites, have extra safety-case duties under their own regulations.

Codes and standards in daily use. New Zealand fabrication and inspection draws on joint Australian and New Zealand standards: AS 1210 for pressure vessels, AS/NZS 1554 for structural steel welding, AS 2885 for gas and liquid petroleum pipelines, AS/NZS 3788 for in-service inspection, plus ISO standards for NDT techniques. ASME, API and AWS codes appear where owners or licensors specify them, for example on imported process packages or US-designed plant. The simulator teaches method skills rather than any one code's acceptance criteria, so Level IIIs set the acceptance rules their procedures require.

For help writing or reviewing procedures, see NDT consulting in New Zealand. To track ISO 9712 and ASNT certificates side by side, see the New Zealand NDT ERP page.

For trainees, working technicians and Level IIIs in New Zealand

Short answer: trainees use guided lessons and NDT Lab jobs to learn the fundamentals, working technicians use the simulator to refresh methods and rare defects between assignments, and Level IIIs and team leads build and assign scenario sets to benchmark crews and find coverage gaps across a small, widely spread workforce.

New trainees. New Zealand is a small market, and many trainees join a company with only a handful of senior technicians who are often away on site. The 33 guided lessons give a trainee a structured path through set-up, calibration, scanning and interpretation for each method, and the NDT Lab gives them bench jobs to repeat without tying up a senior technician or a reference block. That means time on real specimens can be spent on the points that actually need a supervisor.

Working technicians. A Taranaki technician may do mostly UT thickness work for months and then be asked for PAUT weld inspection on a shutdown. An Auckland fabrication inspector might go a year without an IRIS job. The simulator lets technicians rehearse a less-used method or a rare defect type before the job, rather than relearning it on the client's asset. Because it runs in a browser or app, practice can happen at home, at a motel during a remote job, or at a site office between tasks.

Level IIIs and team leads. Level IIIs can build and assign scenario sets that mirror the company's own work, for example a set of geothermal pipework thickness surveys or aerospace eddy current jobs, then compare results across the team. Objective scores make it easier to decide who is ready for which job, to spot a method where the whole crew is weak, and to show a client that its contractor checks competence between certifications.

Practice vs certification

Short answer: the Atlantis Practical NDT simulator is a practice and readiness tool. It is not a certification, it does not issue certificates, it is not part of any AINDT, CBIP or ISO 9712 examination, and it does not replace the practical examination on real specimens that SNT-TC-1A or any other scheme requires.

Certification under ISO 9712 schemes requires training, documented industrial experience and examinations set by the certification body. Under ASNT SNT-TC-1A, the employer's written practice governs training, experience and the general, specific and practical exams, administered under Level III oversight. Neither system accepts simulator scores in place of a practical exam on real specimens, and neither should. A real probe on a real weld, with real noise, coupling and geometry, is what a practical exam checks.

What the simulator does is make that exam, and real work, less of a first attempt. A candidate who has set up, scanned, interpreted and sized dozens of virtual flaws arrives with habits that a few hours on a borrowed specimen cannot build. A technician who has rehearsed a rare defect type is more likely to recognise it on site. Employers should treat simulator results as one piece of evidence about readiness, alongside supervised work and formal examinations, never as a substitute for them. Practical NDT is also not an operator approval, a client prequalification or a WorkSafe authorisation of any kind.

Remote sites, small crews and shutdown seasons: why New Zealand teams practise virtually

Short answer: New Zealand's NDT workforce is small and spread across a long country, specimen sets are expensive and scarce, and shutdowns arrive in bursts. A browser-based simulator lets technicians practise anywhere, keeps skills current between shutdowns, and lets employers check readiness before a crew travels.

Geography is the first reason. A company based in Auckland or New Plymouth may send technicians to Kawerau, Huntly, Bluff and Marsden Point in the same quarter. Bringing everyone back to a single workshop to practise on reference specimens costs travel and lost billable time. A simulator that runs on a laptop or tablet removes that problem.

Specimens are the second reason. Flawed specimens with known, realistic defects are expensive to make or buy, and a small company may own only a few. They also wear out and get familiar: once a trainee has seen the same block several times, it stops testing anything. A simulator offers many jobs across five environments, so practice stays varied.

Timing is the third reason. Planned outages at power stations, geothermal plants and production facilities cluster in particular seasons, and inspection companies often bring in contract technicians to cover the peak. A short refresher in the right environment before mobilising helps a returning or new technician arrive ready. Afterwards, Level IIIs can look at where crews struggled and plan practice before the next outage.

Safety is the fourth. Practising radiography technique and interpretation without a source, or practising tank and plant surveys without working at height or entering confined spaces, removes risk from the learning stage. Real work still needs all the usual controls, but technicians arrive with the method already rehearsed.

ASNT training, consulting and ERP for New Zealand employers

Short answer: beyond the simulator, Atlantis offers ASNT SNT-TC-1A training, Level III consulting and an NDT ERP to New Zealand companies, all delivered online, live-virtual or onsite at the client's facility. There is no Atlantis office or training centre in New Zealand.

Some New Zealand employers need SNT-TC-1A personnel because a client, licensor or overseas owner specifies it, or because technicians want to work on projects in North America or the Middle East. For them, Atlantis delivers ASNT SNT-TC-1A training for Level I, II and III candidates, led by Anoop Rayavarapu, ASNT NDT Level III and founder of Atlantis NDT, with written-practice support through written practice development. Level III procedure, technique and audit support is available through New Zealand consulting, and the Atlantis NDT ERP records ISO 9712 and ASNT certificates together, with expiry reminders, equipment calibration and reports. These services are quoted on request, and none of them replaces the certification scheme your client requires.

Bring Practical NDT to your New Zealand team

Short answer: request a demo through the contact form. Atlantis will show the environments that match your work, agree a pilot group and set up accounts. There is nothing to install beyond a browser or app, and pricing is quote on request. Affordable, accessible and fully customizable.

Atlantis built the first-ever online practical NDT simulation portal for practice and hands-on experience, and the scenario library was designed by Anoop Rayavarapu, ASNT NDT Level III and founder of Atlantis NDT. Inspection companies, asset owners, training providers and polytechnics in New Zealand can use it as it stands or ask for scenario sets aligned to their own procedures and job mix.

A typical start is simple. We hold a short call to understand your work, whether that is Taranaki production, geothermal plant, terminal tank surveys, fabrication or aviation maintenance. We demonstrate the matching environments live, agree a pilot group and set up accounts so your technicians can start practising in a browser or app. Team leads get visibility of results to track progress and find gaps. Because sessions are online, time zones are handled by scheduling the demo at a time that suits New Zealand.

• Request a Practical NDT demo for your New Zealand team
• Ask for a New Zealand quote for a crew, a training cohort or a whole company
• Discuss a custom scenario set for geothermal, Taranaki, terminal or aviation work

You can also read the Practical NDT overview for the full list of environments and methods.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an NDT simulator I can use in New Zealand?

Yes. The Atlantis Practical NDT simulator runs in a browser or app, so it works anywhere in New Zealand with an internet connection, from Auckland to Invercargill. There is no centre to visit; access is online, and demos are arranged through the contact form.

Does Practical NDT count towards AINDT or ISO 9712 certification?

No. ISO 9712 certification, whether through AINDT, CBIP or another body, requires training, documented experience and examinations set by the certification body. Simulator practice can help you prepare, but it is not part of any scheme, and Atlantis does not offer ISO 9712 training or exams.

Can it help with NDT practical exam preparation?

Yes, as preparation. Repeating set-up, scanning, interpretation and sizing builds the habits a practical exam checks. The exam itself must still be taken on real specimens under your scheme's rules.

Is it useful for geothermal plant inspection?

Yes for the methods involved. Thickness surveys, corrosion mapping and weld inspection in the Oil & Gas Site and Welding Workshop environments build the skills geothermal pipework and separator surveys need. The simulator does not model a specific geothermal station.

Does it cover Taranaki oil and gas work?

Yes. The Oil & Gas Site environment has 73 jobs covering weld, corrosion, tube and screening practice in a process plant, including LRUT, IRIS and PMI, and the Storage Tank environment covers shell thickness surveys and MFL floor screening.

Does it include radiography, and do I need a radiation licence to practise?

RT is included, focused on technique and image interpretation. No radiation is used, so simulator practice needs no licence. Real industrial radiography needs licences and authorisations under the Radiation Safety Act 2016, administered by the Office of Radiation Safety.

Can it be used for aviation NDT in Auckland and Christchurch?

Yes. The Aircraft Hangar environment has 54 jobs on airframe and component inspection with ET, PT, UT and VT. It does not replace the aerospace qualification your maintenance organisation requires.

What experience level is it for?

All levels: new trainees on guided lessons, working technicians refreshing rarely used methods and rare defects, and Level IIIs building and assigning scenario sets to benchmark crews.

Can a New Zealand inspection company use it to assess new hires?

Yes. Team leads can give every candidate or new starter the same scenario set and compare scores objectively. Use the results alongside supervised work and certification, not in place of them.

Does Atlantis offer ASNT training in New Zealand?

Yes, ASNT SNT-TC-1A training only, delivered online, live-virtual or onsite at the client's facility, for employers whose clients or projects need SNT-TC-1A personnel. See Atlantis training.

Is Practical NDT a WorkSafe or client approval?

No. It is a practice tool. It is not a WorkSafe authorisation, an operator approval or a client prequalification, and it does not change any duty your company has under New Zealand law.

How much does it cost and how do we start?

Pricing is quote on request and depends on the number of users and any custom scenarios. Request a demo and we will show the environments that fit your work.

Explore more: Practical NDT overview, Practical NDT Auckland, NDT training, New Zealand consulting, New Zealand ERP, Digital twins in New Zealand, contact.

More Atlantis NDT services in New Zealand

• NDT ERP software in New Zealand