History

The present APCNDT (Asia Pacific Committee for Non-Destructive Testing) started in 1976, based on The Pan Pacific Committee of Non-Destructive Testing (herein-after PPCNDT). Prof. Y. Ishii, who was named PPCNDT, by obtaining support from an American called Mr. G.H.Tenny.

The organization meeting was held in Tokyo on March 15, 1977. At the general meeting, the interpreter summarized and read a report of AINDT from Australia as an overseas report.

Moreover, Mr. Lee Dicey of the Korean Atomic Industrial Forum reported about the intention to promote the activities of NDT actively. Prof. Ishii reported on JSNDI and Mr. B.W. Bace on the activity situation of ASNT respectively. Only 5 countries and 16 people attended. The By-Laws were approved at that time. Mr. G. H. Temmy was recommended as a chairman and Prof. Y. Ishii was nominated as the vice-chairman .

The 2nd meeting was held in Soul, South Korea, in April and 7 countries participated.The exhibition started with PPCNDT and a plant tour was planned to visit Po Hang ironworks.

The 3rd PPCNDT was held in Tokyo, Japan on November, 1980 and 12 countries gathered . In terms of the By Laws of PPCNDT, only Committee. Prof. Imoto the PPCNDT Vice-Chairman, explained that the Committee should be made into Representative Committee. 8 countries presented.

The 4th PPCNDT was held in Sydney, Australia on November, 1983 and 8 PPCNDT countries and 5 European countries participated. There was a proposal for a change in the name from Pan Pacific to Asian Pacific.

The 5th PPCNDT was held in Vancouver, Canada, April, 1987. Participants from 8 countries including 4 countries from Europe. About 38 companies participated in the exhibition. In attendance at the Representative Committee were 6 countries and the topic of PPCNDT to be renamed as the Asian Pacific NDT was in continuous deliberation.

The General Assembly in the 6th PPCNDT was renamed from PPCNDT to APCNDT and was held in Plenum, New Zealand in March, 1990. The committee was held with participation from 8 countries, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Taiwan, India, Canada, the United States, 4 countries from Europe, Latin America and Brazil.

The 7th APCNDT was held in Shanghai, China in September, 1993 and the 8th APCNDT was decided to be held in Taiwan and later on it was decided that the 9th APCNDT will be held in Anaheim in the United States and the 10th APCNDT would be in Brisbane in September, 2001

In addition, Australia has proposed to unify the national standards under the ISO 9712 certification but it was carried over till next time. The situation related to ISO 9712, promoted in the UNDP/IAEA/RCA plan, was reported by Dr. Ooka. The activities of the current status and the trends that confronted IAEA were presented during the key note lecture by Dr. Ooka.

The 8th APCNDT was held in Taipei, Taiwan in December, 1995. It was decided at the General Assembly that Japan propose for Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Pakistan to participate in the APCNDT. In addition, India reported on the 14th WCNDT.

The 9th APCNDT was held in Anaheim, United States, in conjunction with the spring conference of ASNT in March, 1998. it was agreed upon that the APCNDT be held every four years since it was confirmed in South Korea in 2003. There was a proposal for bye-Law about APCNDT from Australia.

The 10th APCNDT was held in Brisbane, Australia in September 2001. Initially, the estimated number of participants was going to be 21 countrie but due to the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, the number of participants was reduced, and program changes were forced. Under such circumstances, the opening ceremony was attended by about 100 people. The discussion was organized by choosing the host country from the four participating countries, Japan, New Zealand, Russia and Pakistan.

The 11th APCNDT was held in Cheju Island of South Korea in November, 2003. Papers were submitted by 21 countries and 8 countries attended the General Assembly. It was decided to hold the 12th APCNDT in New Zealand in 2006 and the 13th APCNDT in Japan in 2010. Also Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei in addition to eight other countries were proposed.

The 12th APCNDT was held in Auckland, New Zealand in 2006. The 13th APCNDT to be held in Tokyo was going to overlap with EFNDT, therefore it was moved to be held in 2009 one year earlier than scheduled, this was decided at the General Assembly during the 11th APCNDT.

The 13th APCNDT was held in Yokohama, Japan in 2009. In the General Assembly the establishment of APFNDT(Asia Pacific Federation of NDT) independent from the existing APCNDT was proposed by Dr. Ooka, chairman of APCNDT 2013 and it was approved unanimously.

The APFNDT WG was established in the Task Group meeting conducted by JSNDI. The WG consists of 4 members; Dr. B. Venkatraman (President of APCNDT 2013), Dr. N. Ooka (President of APCNDT 2009), Mr. L. Dick (President of APCNDT 2006), Mr. S. K. Babu (Secretary of ICNDT and APCNDT 2017) ,and 2 observers; Mr. V. Pari and Mr. Choksi (ISNT), and Dr. Choi (KSNT). The WG meeting has been held 4 times; twice in Tokyo, once in Australia and Singapore to prepare the constitution and operation procedures of APFNDT. Mr. L. Dick drafted those documents to discuss at the WG meeting. The related document was finalized at WG meeting before APCNDT 2013 in Mumbai, India. The APFNDT will start with 17 member countries as a substitute for APCNDT.

Past President of APFNDT, Dr. Norikazu Ooka