ML030760503
| ML030760503 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | River Bend  |
| Issue date: | 03/13/2003 |
| From: | Stramback G General Electric Co |
| To: | Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| MFN-03-017 | |
| Download: ML030760503 (8) | |
Text
S GE Nuclear Energy General Electric Company 175 Curtner Avenue San Jose, CA 95125 MFN-03-017 March 13, 2003 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555 Attention: Chief, Information Management Branch Program Management Policy Development and Analysis Staff
Subject:
Proprietary Content - GE Flux Calculation Methodology Confirmation Result Part I - Surveillance Capsule Flux at River Bend Station
Reference:
MFN 03-005, "GE Flux Calculation Methodology Confirmation Result Part I Surveillance Capsule Flux at River Bend Station," January 29, 2003.
The referenced letter transmitted the result of a predictive calculation for the flux surveillance capsule at River Bend Station. Information contained in the attachment of the referenced letter was designated as proprietary. GE has subsequently reviewed the information and has determined that the information designation as proprietary can be more limited. hereto provides a re-designation of the proprietary information. The information designated as proprietary is information that GE customarily maintains in confidence and withholds from public disclosure. Attachment 2 provides a non-proprietary version suitable for public disclosure. provides an affidavit, which identifies that the designated information has been handled and classified as proprietary to GE. GE hereby requests that the designated proprietary information be withheld from public disclosure in accordance with the provisions of 10 CFR 2.790 and 9.17.
The attachment provides only a change to the information designated as proprietary. No other changes have been made to the information originally provided by the referenced letter, and the discussions and requests of the transmittal letter are unaffected by this letter.
MFN 03-017 March 13, 2003 Page 2 If you have any questions about the information provided here please contact me.
Sincerely, C(.? George Stramback Attachments:
- 1.
River Bend Station Capsule Flux Calculation (Proprietary)
- 2.
River Bend Station Capsule Flux Calculation (Non-Proprietary)
- 3.
Proprietary Affidavit cc:
L.Lois - USNRC A. B Wang-USNRC J.F. Klapproth I. Nir A. Chung S. Sitaraman T. Wu S. Wang MFN-03-017 River Bend Station Capsule Flux Calculation Non-Proprietary
MFN-03-017 Page 1 of 1 ATTACHMENT 2 River Bend Station Surveillance Capsule Flux Calculation This surveillance capsule has resided near the reactor pressure vessel wall of River Bend Station at azimuth 1830 since the beginning of operation, and was withdrawn during the refueling outage in 2000. The calculated flux is as follows.
Full Power Fast (> 1 MeV) Neutron Flux This flux prediction is calculated based on the methodology described in NEDC-32983P-A "General Electric Methodology for Reactor Pressure Vessel Fast Neutron Flux Evaluation,".
Because this result will be added to the original database of calculation-to-measurement ratios, the value presented here is the un-corrected result of calculation alone.
The bias adjustment factor stated in NEDC-32983P-A has not been applied to this flux value.
MFN-03-017 Proprietary Affidavit
General Electric Company AFFIDAVIT I, David J. Robare, state as follows:
(1) I am Technical Projects Manager, Technical Services, General Electric Company
("GE") and have been delegated the function of reviewing the information described in paragraph (2) which is sought to be withheld, and have been authorized to apply for its withholding.
(2) The information sought to be withheld is contained in the Attachment Ito GE letter MFN 03-017, George Stramback to NRC, Proprietary Content -
GE Flux Calculation Methodology Confirmation Result Part I-Surveillance Capsule Flux at River Bend Station, March 13, 2003. The proprietary information is identified by a double underline inside square brackets.
(3) In making this application for withholding of proprietary information of which it is the owner, GE relies upon the exemption from disclosure set forth in the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 USC Sec. 552(b)(4), and the Trade Secrets Act, 18 USC Sec. 1905, and NRC regulations 10 CFR 9.17(a)(4), 2.790(a)(4), and 2.790(d)(1) for "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential" (Exemption 4).
The material for which exemption from disclosure is here sought is all "confidential commercial information",
and some portions also qualify under the narrower definition of "trade secret", within the meanings assigned to those terms for purposes of FOIA Exemption 4 in, respectively, Critical Mass Energy Project v Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 975F2d871 (DC Cir. 1992), and Public Citizen Health Research Group v. FDA, 704F2d 1280 (DC Cir. 1983).
(4) Some examples of categories of information which fit into the definition of proprietary information are:
- a.
Information that discloses a process, method, or apparatus, including supporting data and analyses, where prevention of its use by General Electric's competitors without license from General Electric constitutes a competitive economic advantage over other companies;
- b.
Information which, if used by a competitor, would reduce his expenditure of resources or improve his competitive position in the design, manufacture, shipment, installation, assurance of quality, or licensing of a similar product; Affidavit Page I
- c.
Information which reveals cost or price information, production capacities, budget levels, or commercial strategies of General Electric, its customers, or its suppliers;
- d.
Information which reveals aspects of past, present, or future General Electric customer-funded development plans and programs, of potential commercial value to General Electric;
- e.
Information which discloses patentable subject matter for which it may be desirable to obtain patent protection.
The information sought to be withheld is considered to be proprietary for the reasons set forth in both paragraphs (4)a and (4)b., above.
(5) The information sought to be withheld is being submitted to NRC in confidence The information is of a sort customarily held in confidence by GE, and is in fact so held The information sought to be withheld has, to the best of my knowledge and belief, consistently been held in confidence by GE, no public disclosure has been made, and it is not available in public sources. All disclosures to third parties including any required transmittals to NRC, have been made, or must be made, pursuant to regulatory provisions or proprietary agreements which provide for maintenance of the information in confidence. Its initial designation as proprietary information, and the subsequent steps taken to prevent its unauthorized disclosure, are as set forth in paragraphs (6) and (7) following (6)
Initial approval of proprietary treatment of a document is made by the manager of the originating component, the person most likely to be acquainted with the value and sensitivity of the information in relation to industry knowledge.
Access to such documents within GE is limited on a "need to know" basis.
(7) The procedure for approval of external release of such a document typically requires review by the staff manager, project manager, principal scientist or other equivalent authority, by the manager of the cognizant marketing function (or his delegate), and by the Legal Operation, for technical content, competitive effect, and determination of the accuracy of the proprietary designation Disclosures outside GE are limited to regulatory bodies, customers, and potential customers, and their agents, suppliers, and licensees, and others with a legitimate need for the information, and then only in accordance with appropriate regulatory provisions or proprietary agreements.
- 8)
The information identified in paragraph (2), above, is classified as proprietary because it contains responses containing or based on detailed results of analytical models, methods and processes, including computer codes for BWRs.
Affidavit Page 2
The development of the evaluation process along with the interpretation and application of the analytical results is derived from the extensive experience database that constitutes a major GE asset.
(9) Public disclosure of the information sought to be withheld is likely to cause substantial harm to GE's competitive position and foreclose or reduce the availability of profit-making opportunities. The information is part of GE's comprehensive BWR safety and technology base, and its commercial value extends beyond the original development cost.
The value of the technology base goes beyond the extensive physical database and analytical methodology and includes development of the expertise to determine and apply the appropriate evaluation process. In addition, the technology base includes the value derived from providing analyses done with NRC-approved methods.
The research, development, engineering, analytical and NRC review costs comprise a substantial investment of time and money by GE.
The precise value of the expertise to devise an evaluation process and apply the correct analytical methodology is difficult to quantify, but it clearly is substantial.
GE's competitive advantage will be lost if its competitors are able to use the results of the GE experience to normalize or verify their own process or if they are able to claim an equivalent understanding by demonstrating that they can arrive at the same or similar conclusions The value of this information to GE would be lost if the information were disclosed to the public. Making such information available to competitors without their having been required to undertake a similar expenditure of resources would unfairly provide competitors with a windfall, and deprive GE of the opportunity to exercise its competitive advantage to seek an adequate return on its large investment in developing these very valuable analytical tools I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing affidavit and the matters stated therein are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief.
Executed on this 13th day of March, 2003.
David J. Robare General Electric Company Affidavit Page 3