API 510 — Pressure Vessel Inspection Code

In-service inspection, rating, repair, and alteration of pressure vessels in petroleum and chemical industry — sets interval, CML, and retirement criteria.

Scope

API 510 — Pressure Vessel Inspection Code — establishes the requirements for in-service inspection, repair, alteration, and rerating of pressure vessels that have been placed in service in refineries, petrochemical plants, chemical plants, and similar facilities. API 510 applies to pressure vessels originally constructed to ASME Section VIII Division 1 or 2 (and certain other codes), and governs them throughout their operational life. It establishes the inspection program — who is qualified to inspect (API 510 Certified Inspector), how often vessels are inspected (interval setting), where to inspect (CML — corrosion monitoring location selection), what techniques to use (UT, RT, MT, PT, VT), and when to retire or repair. API 510 is the inspection-side counterpart to the construction Code. Construction Code (Section VIII) defines design, materials, fabrication, and acceptance for new vessels. API 510 takes the construction Code's vessel and manages its in-service life. The current edition is the 11th Edition (May 2022) with Addendum 1 (2023).

NDT methods it governs

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{"label":"Ultrasonic Testing (UT)","href":"/blog/ultrasonic-testing"}
{"label":"CUI Detection","href":"/blog/corrosion-under-insulation-cui-detection-guide"}
{"label":"Risk-Based Inspection (RBI)","href":"/blog/risk-based-inspection-rbi-implementation-guide"}

Certifications that reference it

{"label":"API 510 Pressure Vessel Inspector Certification","href":"/api-510-certification"}

Issuing body

API

Revision history

2023 —
2022 —
2018 —
2014 —

Related standards

api-570 · api-571 · api-579 · api-580 · api-581 · api-653 · asme-section-v-article-4 · asme-section-v-article-23

Applying this in an inspection programme

Code compliance is only demonstrable if the evidence behind it is: the procedure revision in force, the inspector's certification state and the instrument's calibration status at the time of test. Atlantis NDT provides ASNT Level III consulting for procedure and written-practice work against this code, training toward the certifications that reference it, and inspection management software that keeps that evidence recoverable years later. Request a consultation.

How a standard like this is applied in an inspection programme

A standard is only half of the requirement. It defines how an examination is performed and, in some cases, how results are classified — but the acceptance criteria that decide whether a component stays in service normally come from the construction or in-service code governing the item, not from the examination standard itself. Confusing the two is one of the more common findings in a procedure review: a procedure that correctly cites the examination standard but applies acceptance criteria from the wrong code or the wrong edition.

What has to be in place for compliance to be demonstrable

A written procedure qualified against this standard for the specific materials, thickness ranges and geometries in scope — not a generic procedure covering everything
Personnel certified for the method and level under ASNT SNT-TC-1A, ANSI/ASNT CP-189, NAS 410 or ISO 9712, current on the date the examination was performed
Equipment, probes and reference standards in calibration on that date, with traceability to a national standard under ISO 17025
The applicable edition of the standard recorded against the examination, so historical work stays assessed under the edition then in force
Technique sheets under the same revision control as the procedure above them — the most frequently uncontrolled document in an otherwise compliant quality system

Edition changes

When a new edition is issued, new work moves to it from a defined effective date that you set and record; work already performed stays assessed under the edition in force at the time. Retrospectively applying a new edition to historical dispositions invalidates the original acceptance decision and creates a substantially larger problem than the one being solved.

Where this usually goes wrong

Not in the technical content, but in reconstruction. An auditor picks an issued report and asks which procedure revision applied, who performed the work and whether they were qualified on that date, and whether the instrument and reference blocks were in calibration. Programmes that hold only current state can answer none of those. Binding the document revision, the qualification state and the calibration state to each inspection record as it is created turns that from an investigation into a lookup.