Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation
Settles Charges of Unlicensed Exports

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that BNC Corp., also known as Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation (BNC), of San Rafael, California, agreed to a $55,000 civil penalty and a five-year denial of export privileges to settle charges that it made unlicensed exports in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) agreed to suspend the denial of export privileges penalty for a period of one year and thereafter waive the denial penalty contingent on BNC not having committed further violations during the suspension period.

BIS charged that between 1998 and 2000, BNC exported and attempted to export shipments of nuclear pulse generators to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) in India without the required licenses.

At the time of the export, DAE and NPC were both on BIS’s Entity List and exports to DAE and NPC therefore required prior authorization. The Entity List is a compilation of end users that have been determined to present an unacceptable risk of diversion to developing weapons of mass destruction or missiles used to deliver these weapons. Exports to those appearing on the Entity List require licenses. BIS maintains the Entity List to inform the public of the export license requirements related to these entities. This settlement adds to the growing number of successfully resolved cases that involve exports to Entity List destinations. You will find a link to the Entity List on this Web site.

In related criminal cases, on June 9, 2004, BNC pled guilty in the Northern District of California to violating the EAR and was fined $300,000. On December 17, 2003, two former employees of BNC, Richard Hamilton and Vincent Delfino, also pled guilty to related charges. Hamilton pled guilty to misrepresenting and concealing facts on an export document. Delfino pled guilty to making a false statement on an export control document. Both were sentenced to a criminal fine of $1000, two years probation, and 100 hours of community service, and were prohibited from engaging in or facilitating export transactions.

Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers commended Special Agent Ben Robinson of BIS’s San Jose Field Office for his efforts in this investigation.