Engineers who work to prevent disasters from plane crashes to nuclear plant meltdowns are meeting this week at Iowa State University. The conference is gathering experts who use X-rays and ultrasound to detect flaws and cracks in all types of material and structures before catastrophes strike.Bruce Thompson is Director of the I-S-U Center for Nondestructive Evaluation which is hosting the conference. It’s called the 27th Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation. He says the meeting is devoted to research and transferring the research into practice.Thompson says more than 400 leaders in the field of nondestructive evaluation are in Ames this week — many from as far away as India, Japan, Germany and France.The conference began Sunday and runs through Friday.
