Oak Ridge, TN – This year, the ORTEC Products Group of AMETEK Advanced
Measurement Technology celebrates 50 years as a major supplier of nuclear detection instruments and systems to the nuclear industry.
Originally named Oak Ridge Technical Enterprises Corporation, ORTEC wasfounded in 1960 by a group of businessmen and scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory interested in developing silicon surface-barrier detectors for detecting atomic
particles. At the time, its founders believed their idea had limited market potential but would “afford them an outlet for fun and provide employment for skilled and retired workers from the Oak Ridge area”.
ORTEC first became known to the nuclear industry beyond Oak Ridge when it exhibited at the IEEE conference in Gatlinburg, TN, near Knoxville, in October 1960.
This year, 50 years later, the IEEE conference again will be held in Knoxville. This time chaired by ORTEC Senior Scientist Dr. Ronald Keyser.
Over the course of its first five decades, ORTEC gained a reputation for developing innovative high-quality and high-performing products for the nuclear industry. Among its first customers were the Argonne and Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratories; General Electric and Philips Petroleum Companies; Iowa State, RiceUniversity, Iowa State University and Texas Christian Universities.
Acquired in 1967 by EG&G, Inc., which later became Perkin Elmer, ORTEC was sold in 2002 to AMETEK, Inc. and is now a unit of its Advanced Measurement Technology division. Today, ORTEC is probably best known for its high-purity
Germanium (HPGe) crystals and ultra-sensitive gamma detectors. It is one of only two manufacturers worldwide with the ability to produce HPGe crystals and manufacture
high-resolution radiation detectors from them.
These detectors are widely used in scientific research, health physics and waste assay. In particular, ORTEC pioneered the use of miniature cryogenic coolers in portable lightweight detectors used by Homeland Security and other agencies to detect and identify potentially harmful nuclear materials.
Virtually every major nuclear facility and research institution now owns one or more of ORTEC’s products. Its nuclear security products are deployed worldwide by government agencies, the military and others to protect against nuclear terror. It also is
a leading supplier of digital signal processing electronics and software associated with high-resolution spectroscopic applications in many fields.
ORTEC next plans to showcase its latest product line at the Health Physics Society June 28-30, in Salt Lake City.