ML051080001

Proprietary Determination of Attachments One Through Five of GE-ENG-DRY-044, for April 11, 12, and 13, 2005, Meeting with Exelon Generation Company on Design and Analysis of New Dryers for the Quad Cities Station

ML051080001
Person / Time
Site:	Dresden, Quad Cities
Issue date:	05/02/2005
From:	Rossbach L NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD3
To:
Rossbach L, 415-2863, NRR/DLPM
References
TAC MC4397, TAC MC4398
Download: ML051080001 (4)

Text

May 2, 2005 TO: File FROM: Lawrence Rossbach, Project Manager, Section 2 /RA/

Project Directorate III Division of Licensing Project Management Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

SUBJECT:

PROPRIETARY DETERMINATION OF ATTACHMENTS ONE THROUGH FIVE OF GE-ENG-DRY-044, FOR APRIL 11, 12, AND 13, 2005, MEETING WITH EXELON GENERATION COMPANY ON DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF NEW STEAM DRYERS FOR THE QUAD CITIES NUCLEAR POWER STATION (TAC NOS. MC4397 AND MC4398)

By affidavit dated April 1, 2005, executed by George Stramback of General Electric Company (GE), GE requested that the information contained in the following document be withheld from public disclosure pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 2, Section 2.390:

Attachments 1 through 5 of GE-ENG-DRY-044, "Exelon Integrated Steam Dryer - Documents for NRC Review," dated April 1, 2005.

-Attachment 1: "Damping Value for Steam Dryer Dynamic Analysis," Engineering Calculation Sheet, eDRF 0000-0034-1855, GE Nuclear Energy, November 5, 2004 - Proprietary

-Attachment 2: "Steam Dryer," GE Nuclear Energy, Design Specification, 26A6266, Rev. 2, March 30, 2005 - Proprietary

-Attachment 3: "Steam Dryer," GE Nuclear Energy, Design Specification Data Sheet, 26A6266AB, Rev. 1, March 30, 2005 - Proprietary

-Attachment 4: "Replacement Steam Dryer Materials Requirements," GE Nuclear Energy, Material Specification, 26A6273, Rev. 4, February 8, 2005 -

Proprietary

-Attachment 5: "Steam Dryer Fabrication," GE Nuclear Energy, Fabrication Specification, 26A6274, Rev. 6, March 9, 2005 - Proprietary GE-ENG-DRY-044 was submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by letter dated April 1, 2005, from Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Exelon). GE's affidavit is Attachment 6 of GE-ENG-DRY-044. Exelon's letter with GE's affidavit has been added to NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room at Accession Number (ML050980319.) A non-publicly available proprietary copy of this document has been placed in ADAMS at package Accession Number (ML050980317.) Exelon stated in their April 1, 2005, letter that Exelon plans to provide non-proprietary versions of these documents at a later date.

The affidavit stated that the submitted information should be considered exempt from mandatory public disclosure for the following reasons:

It is information that discloses a process, method, or apparatus, including supporting data and analyses, where prevention of its use by GEs competitors without license from GE constitutes a competitive economic advantage over other companies.

It is 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.

It is information which reveals aspects of past, present, or future GE customer-funded development plans and programs, resulting in potential products to GE.

It is information which discloses patentable subject matter for which it may be desirable to obtain patent protection.

It is information that contains GE Design Record File design record documentation for internal use and typically only is available for NRC audit review access. This information is not available for public disclosure, nor prepared for such disclosure, and contains GE's detailed design, analyses, and calculational methodology, including process control details, as they relate to the design, procurement and analyses of the Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Steam Dryer. Development of the design, procurement and analyses methodologies and processes for the Steam Dryer was achieved at a significant cost to GE, on the order of approximately two million dollars. 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.

Public disclosure of the information sought to be withheld is likely to cause substantial harm to GEs competitive position and foreclose or reduce the availability of profit-making opportunities. The information is part of GEs 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.

GEs 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 have reviewed GEs affidavit and the material in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 2.390 and, on the basis of GEs statements and in consultation with NRC technical staff, have determined that the submitted information sought to be withheld contains proprietary commercial information and should be withheld from public disclosure.

Therefore, the version of the submitted information marked as proprietary will be withheld from public disclosure pursuant to 10 CFR 2.390(b)(5) and Section 103(b) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

Withholding from public inspection shall not effect the right, if any, of persons properly and directly concerned to inspect the documents. If the need arises, we may send copies of this information to our consultants working in this area. We will, of course, ensure that the consultants have signed the appropriate agreements for handling proprietary information.

Docket Nos. 50-254, 50-265, 237, and 249

ML051080001 Nrr-106 OFFICE PDIII-2/PM PDIII-2/LA EMEB-A/SC PDIII-2 SC NAME LRossbach PCoates DTerao GSuh DATE 4/29/05 4/26/05 4/11/05 05/02/05