Partnership between INP, Kazakhstan, and TWI, Great Britain

The oil and gas sector is developing rapidly in Kazakhstan and the possibility of building new nuclear power plant is also being considered. To ensure the safety of the industrial facilities concerned, these developments demand the introduction of quality control based on modern international standards. INP possesses special experience in this area, though introducing the international quality system in areas such as the certification of staff and materials involves difficult and painstaking processes. Here, the support of, and help from, experienced European organisations will be essential.

One such organisation is the British TWI, which has had many years of experience in developing welding technologies, training and certifying specialists, and in research into, and the certification of, construction materials.

My first encounter with TWI occurred during a study tour to Great Britain, organized by CNCP in February 2009. Planning the meeting with the representatives of The Welding Institute in advance, we prepared a project proposal for joint activities. A large number of foreign companies, including British companies, work in Kazakhstan on the construction of oil and gas pipelines. One of the basic duties concerned involves evaluating the quality of the different methods employed. To meet international standards and procedures, the control involved has to be carried out by specialists who have been formally certified. At present in Kazakhstan no centre exists which can prepare such personnel. However, companies are interested in having their staff certified in Kazakhstan to carry out this work, to reduce the costs involved. As well as discussing joint activities relating to the certification of specialists, we also explored with TWI a range of other possibilities, for example, the certification of construction materials used in the nuclear and oil and gas sectors, and we came to the conclusion that such collaboration could also be beneficial in these two areas.

After the meeting, CNCP organized several visits by TWI representatives to INP, in the course of which they examined the material and technical resources available to the Institute of Nuclear Physics and the opportunities open to it. This work led to the formal signing of a collaboration agreement which took place in INP late in 2009 during the 7th International Conference on «Nuclear and Radiation Physics».

The first step with the partnership, which will be carried out shortly, will involve organizing training courses in INP for specialists in non-destructive methods of testing according to the British CSWIP procedures. The partnership is based on an agreement that INP will undertake the theoretical and practical training of the specialists concerned and will organise the examinations, and TWI will prepare the examination materials and award the certificates.

It should be stressed that without the support of the CNCP Programme this partnership would not have been possible. Additional training and materials will be provided through the project «Organisation of a commercial partnership between INP, Almaty, and The Welding Institute (TWI), Cambridge, UK», as the system of certification makes big demands in terms of the material and technical provision for the courses. We are planning in future to extend partnership activities to include the certification of construction materials.

Adil Tuleushev,
Director, Institute of Nuclear Physics