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Question

Can a material supplier provide proprietary fittings for a nuclear project if they originally designed them, but are no longer an ASME Certificate Holder?

Answer

The question does not address whether this is a power boiler or heating boiler, so both cases will be considered.Under ASME Section III, the answer is no, not on their own. A Material Organization (MO) cannot claim or retain design authority without being a current Certificate Holder. Even if the fittings are based on long-standing designs, the Code requires that design control be maintained by an active Certificate Holder through a formal Design Specification.

While an MO may supply fittings that conform to recognized ASME B-series dimensional standards as standard parts, they cannot provide nonstandard or proprietary fittings based on a Design Specification without oversight and formal design acceptance by a current N-Certificate Holder. In this case, the N-Certificate Holder must assume full design responsibility, ensuring the component is managed under a compliant QA program. The MO may manufacture the fittings, but only if a qualified Certificate Holder formally accepts design responsibility and includes the fittings under their program.

In some repair or replacement cases under ASME Section XI, there may be limited exceptions. But for new or modified components under Section III, Code compliance depends on current design authority and not historical ownership.