GNRO-2014/00015, Responses to NRC Requests for Additional Information Pertaining to the Final Report for the GGNS Replacement Steam Dryer
| ML14077A591 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Grand Gulf  |
| Issue date: | 03/20/2014 |
| From: | Ford B Entergy Operations |
| To: | Document Control Desk, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| GNRO-2014/00015 | |
| Download: ML14077A591 (7) | |
Text
When Attachment 1 is removed from this letter, the entire letter is NON-PROPRIETARY.
contains PROPRIETARY information.
GNRO-2014/00015 March 20, 2014 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Attn: Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555
SUBJECT:
Responses to NRC Requests for Additional Information Pertaining to the Final Report for the GGNS Replacement Steam Dryer Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-416 License No. NPF-29
REFERENCES:
- 1. Entergy Operations, Inc. letter to the NRC, Responses to NRC Requests for Additional Information Pertaining to the Final Report for the GGNS Replacement Steam Dryer, August 1, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13214A138)
- 2. NRC letter to Entergy Operations, Inc., Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Unit 1 - Request for Additional Information Regarding Entergys Final Report for Replacement Steam Dryer (TAC No. MF0343),
February 25, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13038A603)
- 3. NRC e-mail to Entergy Operations, Inc., Questions on GGNS EPU RSD 90 day Report (Rev. 1), September 17, 2013
Dear Sir or Madam:
In Reference 1, Entergy Operations, Inc. (Entergy) transmitted to the NRC General Electric -
Hitachi (GEH) report NEDC-33765 Supplement 4P, Revision 1, Grand Gulf Nuclear Station Replacement Steam Dryer EPU Full Re-Analysis and Benchmarking Report. This letter also submitted responses to Requests for Additional Information (RAIs) that were transmitted to Entergy via Reference 2.
In Reference 3, the NRC staff transmitted three RAIs pertaining to information contained in Reference 1. On December 23, 2013, representatives from Entergy and GEH discussed the RAIs with the NRC staff to clarify and understand what information was being requested.
Responses to these RAIs based on that discussion are provided in Attachment 1 to this letter.
Entergy Operations, Inc.
1340 Echelon Parkway Jackson, MS 39213 Bryan S. Ford Senior Manager, Fleet Regulatory Assurance Tel. (601) 368-5516
GNRO-2013/00051 Page 2 of 3 GEH considers information contained in Attachment 1 to be proprietary and, therefore, exempt from public disclosure pursuant to 10 CFR 2.390. Therefore, on behalf of GEH, Entergy requests Attachment 1 be withheld from public disclosure in accordance with 10 CFR 2.390(b)(1). The associated affidavit for withholding information, executed by GEH, is provided in Attachment 2. Responses to the RAIs developed by GEH were provided to Entergy in a GEH transmittal that is referenced in the affidavit.
In accordance with NRC Information Notice 2009-07, Withholding of Proprietary Information from Public Disclosure, a non-proprietary version of Attachment 1 is not being provided since the vast majority of information contained within it is proprietary and a non-proprietary version would be of little or no value.
If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Guy Davant at (601) 368-5756.
This letter contains no new regulatory commitments.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct; executed on March 20, 2014.
Sincerely, BSF/ghd Attachments:
- 1. Responses to NRC Requests for Additional Information
- 2. Affidavit for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure
GNRO-2013/00051 Page 3 of 3 cc:
Mr. Arthur T. Howell Regional Administrator, Region IV U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1600 East Lamar Blvd.
Arlington, TX 76011-4511 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ATTN: Mr. A. B. Wang, NRR/DORL (w/2)
ATTN: ADDRESSEE ONLY ATTN: Courier Delivery Only Mail Stop OWFN/8 B1 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-2378 NRC Senior Resident Inspector Grand Gulf Nuclear Station Port Gibson, MS 39150 State Health Officer Mississippi Department of Health P. O. Box 1700 Jackson, MS 39215-1700
ATTACHMENT 2 GRAND GULF NUCLEAR STATION GNRO-2014/00015 AFFIDAVIT FOR WITHHOLDING INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC Affidavit for GEH-SDAS-029 Affidavit Page 1 of 3 AFFIDAVIT I, Peter M. Yandow, state as follows:
(1) I am the Vice President, NPP/Services Licensing, Regulatory Affairs,, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC (³GEH'), 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 Enclosure 1 of GEH letter, GEH-SDAS-029, ³Transmittal of GGNS RAI 13 +/- 15 Clarifications,' dated February 28, 2014. Enclosure 1, which is entitled ³GEH Response to NRC Clarification Questions 13, 14, and 15,' is proprietary in its entirety, thus, Enclosure 1 carries the notation ³GEH Proprietary Information - Class II (Internal){3}' in the header of each page. In each case, the superscript notation {3} refers to Paragraph (3) of this affidavit, which provides the basis for the proprietary determination.
(3) In making this application for withholding of proprietary information of which it is the owner or licensee, GEH relies upon the exemption from disclosure set forth in the Freedom of Information Act (³FOIA'), 5 USC Sec. 552(b)(4), and the Trade Secrets Act, 18 USC Sec. 1905, and NRC regulations 10 CFR 9.17(a)(4), and 2.390(a)(4) for trade secrets (Exemption 4). The material for which exemption from disclosure is here sought also qualifies 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, 975 F2d 871 (DC Cir. 1992), and Public Citizen Health Research Group v. FDA, 704 F2d 1280 (DC Cir. 1983).
(4) The information sought to be withheld is considered to be proprietary for the reasons set forth in paragraphs (4)a. and (4)b. Some examples of categories of information that 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 GEH's competitors without license from GEH constitutes a competitive economic advantage over other companies;
- b.
Information that, if used by a competitor, would reduce their expenditure of resources or improve their competitive position in the design, manufacture, shipment, installation, assurance of quality, or licensing of a similar product;
- c.
Information that reveals aspects of past, present, or future GEH customer-funded development plans and programs, resulting in potential products to GEH;
- d.
Information that discloses trade secret and/or potentially patentable subject matter for which it may be desirable to obtain patent protection.
GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC Affidavit for GEH-SDAS-029 Affidavit Page 2 of 3 (5) To address 10 CFR 2.390(b)(4), the information sought to be withheld is being submitted to NRC in confidence. The information is of a sort customarily held in confidence by GEH, 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 GEH, not been disclosed publicly, and not been made available in public sources. All disclosures to third parties, including any required transmittals to the NRC, have been made, or must be made, pursuant to regulatory provisions or proprietary and/or confidentiality agreements that provide for maintaining the information in confidence. The initial designation of this information as proprietary information, and the subsequent steps taken to prevent its unauthorized disclosure, are as set forth in the following paragraphs (6) and (7).
(6) Initial approval of proprietary treatment of a document is made by the manager of the originating component, who is the person most likely to be acquainted with the value and sensitivity of the information in relation to industry knowledge, or who is the person most likely to be subject to the terms under which it was licensed to GEH.
(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 for technical content, competitive effect, and determination of the accuracy of the proprietary designation. Disclosures outside GEH 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 and/or confidentiality agreements.
(8) The information identified in paragraph (2), above, is classified as proprietary because it contains detailed GEH design information of the methodology used in the design and analysis of the steam dryers for the GEH Boiling Water Reactor (BWR). Development of these methods, techniques, and information and their application for the design, modification, and analyses methodologies and processes was achieved at a significant cost to GEH.
The development of the evaluation processes along with the interpretation and application of the analytical results is derived from the extensive experience databases that constitute major GEH asset.
GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC Affidavit for GEH-SDAS-029 Affidavit Page 3 of 3 (9) Public disclosure of the information sought to be withheld is likely to cause substantial harm to GEH's competitive position and foreclose or reduce the availability of profit-making opportunities. The information is part of GEH'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 GEH. 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. GEH's competitive advantage will be lost if its competitors are able to use the results of the GEH 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 GEH 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 GEH of the opportunity to exercise its competitive advantage to seek an adequate return on its large investment in developing and obtaining 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 28th day of February 2014.
Peter M. Yandow Vice President, NPP/Services Licensing Regulatory Affairs GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC 3901 Castle Hayne Rd.
Wilmington, NC 28401