History
Founded in 1960, BNC initially developed pulse generators with precise, stable amplitudes and shapes for the nuclear spectroscopy community. The product line later expanded to general-purpose pulse generators and digital delay generators. To date, BNC has introduced 15 different Digital delay generators with delay resolution as low as 50 pico-seconds. In the mid 1990s, BNC began building a strong market position in radiation detection and analysis instrumentation.
In 2001, two top executives from BNC and the firm itself were charged with violations of export regulations and conspiracy. The company sent a number of nuclear pulse generators to India's Department of Atomic Energy in the beginning in 1998 shortly after sanctions were placed on the country for testing nuclear weapons. Lawers defending BNC and the two executives argued that the violations were unintentional and government agents "cajoled" BNC to make the sales. BNC lawyer Steve Bauer remarked that "there was a slight change in export regulations a few years ago that many companies missed. When (Berkeley Nucleonics) found this out, they tried to cooperate with the government to fix any problem and, for that, they get indicted." The company stated that the existing customer in India had been purchasing the same product for over 20 years, and the change in US export requirements in 1998 caused all shipments to this customer to require a license. Gary Milhollin from the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control called the exports "outrageous" and claimed that the firm should have known better.
The owner of Berkeley Nucleonics, David Brown, was dismissed without prejudice in May 2003, as were all named employees in the law suit. After 3 years of litigation, the company agreed to a plea settlement that did not interrupt any export or international sales activity, or limit any of the company's significant government businesses. The company released a public statement in June 2004 reiterating the settlement agreement with the Commerce Department.
In 2002, the company stood up a Department of Training to address the growing needs of radiation detection professionals in both health physics and homeland security applications. The accredited training program has been attended by over 70 State and Federal Agencies, including the US DoD, US DoE and the US FDA. The training curriculum is accredited by agencies such as the Health Physics Society, the Institute of Industrial Hygienists and the US Air Force. The handheld radiation detectors sold by Berkeley Nucleonics, such as the SAM Defender and the 1703MO PRD (Detector/Dosimeter) are widely recognized as leading in technology to detect and identify isotope fast and with high levels of accuracy.
In 2004, the company was honored by the State of California Governor's office when Governor Schwarzenegger presented the 'Older Worker of California' awards. A design engineer and Stanford MSEE, John Yee was recognized as a semifinalist. John Yee has been an employee of Berkeley Nucleonics for 35 years and a contributing editor to many of the application notes and technology articles published by the company.
In 2007 the company expanded its Test and Measurement product lines to include signal detection and measurement instruments. It now offers a wide range of measurement tools, such as Digital Multimeters, Frequency Counters, 300 MHz Oscilloscopes and Time Interval Counters.
By 2011, the company has expanded its product lines to meet growing demands in large research programs with a femtosecond pulse generator (Model 745). It also introduced new food monitoring tools for food products or agriculture that has been exposed to nuclear radiation. The Model 971 Food-SSAFE is an example of the new products offered for food monitoring.
The company maintains an archive online of media coverage, application notes and product manuals and brochures, www.berkeleynucleonics.com. The company also keeps a historical file and a company blog with an informal insight into the company people and representatives around the world.
Read more about this topic: Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation
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