Nuclear & Critical Infrastructure Manufacturing worked example

Critical Weld Inspection Plan at 14% setup, indication, and re-inspection allowance: a worked example

Suppose setup, indication, and re-inspection allowance falls to 14%. This page works the full calculation at that level so you can see exactly which result moves and by how much. Estimate the inspection hours needed to examine critical welds in nuclear and critical infrastructure manufacturing, so inspection leads can plan NDE staffing and protect the build schedule.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Critical weld inspections required: 60 inspections (held at the documented default)
  • Weld inspections completed per hour: 4 inspections / hr (held at the documented default)
  • Setup, indication, and re-inspection allowance: 14 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 20)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Base weld inspection hours = critical weld inspections required รท weld inspections completed per hour.
  • Required weld inspection hours works out to 17.1 hr at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Base weld inspection hours works out to 15 hr at these inputs.
  • Setup and re-inspection allowance applied works out to 14 % at these inputs.
  • Weld inspections completed per hour works out to 4 inspections / hr at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where setup, indication, and re-inspection allowance sits at 20% and the headline result is 18 hr, this scenario comes in 5% below the baseline at 17.1 hr.
  • It computes total weld inspection hours by dividing required inspections by your completion rate and adding an allowance for setup, indication follow-up, and re-inspection. When the numbers land here, the stressed input is the lever to work; the walkthrough above shows exactly how much each output recovers as it climbs back toward the baseline.

Results at a glance

  • Required weld inspection hours: 17.1 hr (headline result)
  • Base weld inspection hours: 15 hr
  • Setup and re-inspection allowance applied: 14 %
  • Weld inspections completed per hour: 4 inspections / hr

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Critical Weld Inspection Plan calculator, set setup, indication, and re-inspection allowance to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.