HUNTSVILLE — National Technical Systems’ Nuclear Center of Excellence here is one of just three labs in the world to earn a top IEEE’s Conformity Assessment Program certification, the company announced.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is the world’s largest technical professional organization. The certification allows NTS to connect directly to manufacturers through a standard of product qualification testing and standardized reporting.

Labs are audited regularly to achieve a certification rating. The NTS facility earned a three-star designation – the highest rating under the ICAP program.

“The ICAP rating puts NTS into an exclusive club of premier qualification testing labs,” said Tom Boonarkat, manager of NTS nuclear operations. “There are only two other labs in the world that hold this status.”

ICAP certification ensures product conformity to IEEE standards. This reduces testing burdens on manufacturers that need to meet multiple programs for different buyers.

ICAP also enables trade across state and international boundaries with the assurance of operating safely and reliably within certain measurable performance criteria.

“We will be able to achieve new levels of efficiencies for our utility customers through reporting alone,” said Boonarkat. “With direct uploads into the utility’s equipment qualification database, the reporting format will ease roughly 70% of the burden needed to incorporate results.”

NTS is a qualification testing, inspection, and certification services provider with offices in Madison and Huntsville. Its Huntsville center is one of NTS’ 28 testing laboratories.