This volume brings together the papers presented at the 8th Symposium organised by the Technical Advisory Group on Structural Integrity of Nuclear Plant (TAGSI), which was held on 25 April 2001 at the TWI Conference Centre at Granta Park, Great Abington near Cambridge, UK. The subject of this one-day symposium was "Methods for the Assessment of the Structural Integrity of Components and Structures" and was attended by over eighty delegates from nuclear and non-nuclear industries, academia and governmental organisations. The construction, process, power generation, manufacturing and transport industries all rely on the integrity of appropriate structures and components to ensure the safe and economic operation of their plant. The object of the Symposium was to disseminate the various methodologies used in different industries for the assessment of structural integrity, and to permit comparisons to be drawn between the different approaches.