ML18010A847

Request for Withholding Information from Public Disclosure for Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2, Regarding Core Flow Operating Range Expansion (CAC No. MF8363 and MF8364; EPID L-2016-LLA-0009)

ML18010A847
Person / Time
Site:	Brunswick
Issue date:	04/05/2018
From:	Andrew Hon Plant Licensing Branch II
To:	William Gideon Duke Energy Progress
Hon A, NRR/DORL/LPL2-2, 415-8480
References
CAC MF8363, CAC MF8364, EPID L-2016-LLA-0009
Download: ML18010A847 (7)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 April 5, 2018 Mr. William R. Gideon, Vice President Brunswick Steam Electric Plant Duke Energy Progress, LLC 8470 River Rd., SE (M/C BNP001)

Southport, NC 28461

SUBJECT:

REQUEST FOR WITHHOLDING INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE FOR BRUNSWICK STEAM ELECTRIC PLANT, UNITS 1 AND 2, REGARDING CORE FLOW OPERATING RANGE EXPANSION (CAC NOS. MF8363 AND MF8364; EPID L-2016-LLA-0009)

Dear Mr. Gideon:

By letter dated September 6, 2016 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management system (ADAMS) Accession No. ML16257A410), you submitted affidavits dated August 1, July 18, and August 1, 2016, executed by Lisa K. Schichlein of General Electric-Hitachi (GEH) Nuclear Energy Americas LLC, Alan B. Meginnis of AREVA Inc., and Randy Stark of Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), respectively, requesting 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:

DUKE-OB21-1104-000(P), "Safety Analysis Report for Brunswick Steam Electric Plant Units 1 and 2 Maximum Extended Load Line Limit Analysis Plus," dated July 2016.

A nonproprietary copy of this document has been placed in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) Public Document Room and added to the NRC Library in ADAMS (ADAMS Accession No. ML16257A411 ).

The affidavit from GEH, provided in Enclosure 7 of the letter dated September 6, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16257A411 ), stated that the submitted information should be considered exempt from mandatory public disclosure for the following reasons:

(a) Information that discloses a process, method, or apparatus, including supporting data and analyses, where prevention of its use by GEH's competitors without a license from GEH constitutes a competitive economic advantage over other companies.

(b) Information that, if used by a competitor, would reduce its expenditure of resources or improve its competitive position in the design, manufacture, shipment, installation, assurance of quality, or licensing of a similar product.

W. Gideon (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 or potentially patentable subject matter for which it may be desirable to obtain patent protection.

The affidavit from AREVA, provided in Enclosure 8 of the letter dated September 6, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16257A411 ), stated that the submitted information should be considered exempt from mandatory public disclosure for the following reasons:

(a) The information reveals details of AREVA's research and development plans and programs or their results.

(b) Use of the information by a competitor would permit the competitor to significantly reduce its expenditures, in time or resources, to design, produce, or market a similar product or service.

(c) The information includes test data or analytical techniques concerning a process, methodology, or component, the application of which results in a competitive advantage forAREVA.

(d) The information reveals certain distinguishing aspects of a process, methodology, or component, the exclusive use of which provides a competitive advantage for AREVA in product optimization or marketability.

(e) The information is vital to a competitive advantage held by AREVA, would be helpful to competitors to AREVA, and would likely cause substantial harm to the competitive position of AREVA.

The affidavit from EPRI, provided in Enclosure 9 of the letter dated September 6, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16257A411 ), stated that the submitted information should be considered exempt from mandatory public disclosure for the following reasons:

EPRI made a substantial economic investment to develop the Proprietary Information and, by prohibiting public disclosure, EPRI derives an economic benefit in the form of licensing royalties and other additional fees from the confidential nature of the Proprietary Information.

If the Proprietary Information were publicly available to consultants and/or other businesses providing services in the electric and/or nuclear power industry, they would be able to use the Proprietary Information for their own commercial benefit and profit and without expending the substantial economic resources required of EPRI to develop the Proprietary Information.

W. Gideon In addition, by letter dated September 6, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16257A410), you submitted affidavits from AREVA Inc., requesting that the information contained in the following documents be withheld from public disclosure pursuant to 10 CFR 2.390:

Affidavit Affidavit Document Title ADAMS Executor/ Date/ADAMS Accession No. of Enclosure to Accession No. Non proprietary September 6, of Affidavit Copy of 2016 Letter Document Gayle ElliotU July 30, 2015/ ANP-3108P, Revision 1, "Applicability of AREVA ML16257A412 Enclosure 14 ML16257A412 BWR Methods to Brunswick Extended Power Flow Operating Domain," dated July 2015.

Alan B. May 4, 2016/ ANP-3280P, Revision 1, "Brunswick Unit 1 ML16257A404 Meginnis/ ML16257A404 Cycle 19 MELLLA+ Reload Safety Analysis,"

Enclosure 17 dated Mav 2016.

Alan B. December 1, ANP-3106P, Revision 2, "Brunswick Units 1 ML16257A406 Meginnis/ 2015/ and 2 LOCA-ECCS Analysis MAPLHGR Limit Enclosure 20 ML16257A406 for ATRIUM 10XM Fuel for MELLLA+

Operation," dated December 2015.

Alan B. May 22, 2013/ ANP-3013(P), Revision 0, "Brunswick Unit 1 ML16257A407 Meginnis/ ML16257A407 Cycle 19 Fuel Cycle Design MELLLA+ Operating Enclosure 23 Domain," dated May 2013.

Gayle ElliotU July 30, 2015/ ANP-3105P, Revision 1, "Brunswick Units 1 and ML16257A408 Enclosure 26 ML16257A408 2 LOCA Break Spectrum Analysis for ATRIUM 10XM Fuel for MELLLA+ Operation," dated July 2015.

Subsequently, by letter dated March 16, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18076A030), you submitted a corrected affidavit dated February 26, 2018, executed by Alan B. Meginnis of Framatome for document ANP-3108P, Revision 1, to correct a discrepancy with the document date as stated in the previous affidavit (ADAMS ML16257A412). Framatome was formerly called AREVA. This letter uses the company name AREVA to also include Framatome.

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

(a) The information reveals details of AREVA's research and development plans and programs or their results.

(b) Use of the information by a competitor would permit the competitor to significantly reduce its expenditures, in time or resources, to design, produce, or market a similar product or service.

(c) The information includes test data or analytical techniques concerning a process, methodology, or component, the application of which results in a competitive advantage forAREVA.

(d) The information reveals certain distinguishing aspects of a process, methodology, or component, the exclusive use of which provides a competitive advantage for AREVA in product optimization or marketability.

W. Gideon (e) The information is vital to a competitive advantage held by AREVA, would be helpful to competitors to AREVA, and would likely cause substantial harm to the competitive position of AREVA By letter dated November 9, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16330A504), you provided a response to a request for supplemental information and submitted an affidavit dated November 2, 2016, executed by Lisa K. Schichlein of GEH requesting that the information contained in the following document be withheld from public disclosure pursuant to 10 CFR 2.390:

GEH-PGN-MPLUS-143, "GEH Response to the NRC MELLLA+ Request for Supplemental Information on the ATWS-1 Analyses," dated November 2, 2016.

A nonproprietary copy of this document has been placed in the NRC's Public Document Room and added to the NRC Library in ADAMS (ADAMS Accession No. ML16330A505).

The affidavit from GEH, provided in Enclosure 3 of the letter dated November 9, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16330A504), stated that the submitted information should be considered exempt from mandatory public disclosure for the following reasons:

(a) Information that discloses a process, method, or apparatus, including supporting data and analyses, where prevention of its use by GEH's competitors without a license from GEH constitutes a competitive economic advantage over other companies.

(b) Information that, if used by a competitor, would reduce its expenditure of resources or improve its 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 or potentially patentable subject matter for which it may be desirable to obtain patent protection.

By letter dated November 2, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML173258599), you submitted revised pages for the following documents, which are covered by affidavits previously provided as described above:

DUKE-0821-1104-000(P), "Safety Analysis Report for Brunswick Steam Electric Plant Units 1 and 2 Maximum Extended Load Line Limit Analysis Plus," dated July 2016.

GEH-PGN-MPLUS-143, "GEH Response to the NRC MELLLA+ Request for Supplemental Information on the ATWS-1 Analyses," dated November 2, 2016.

W. Gideon A nonproprietary copy of revised pages to DUKE-0821-1104-000(P) has been placed in the NRC's Public Document Room and added to the NRC Library in ADAMS (ADAMS Accession No. ML173258599). As discussed in your November 2, 2017, letter (ADAMS Accession No. ML173258599), a nonproprietary copy of revised pages to GEH-PGN-MPLUS-143 was not provided because the changes to the pages do not affect the nonproprietary version of the corresponding pages previously provided (ADAMS Accession No. ML16330A505).

We have reviewed your application and the material in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 2.390 and, on the basis of the statements in the affidavits, 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 affect 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.

If the basis for withholding this information from public inspection should change in the future such that the information could then be made available for public inspection, you should promptly notify the NRC. You also should understand that the NRC may have cause to review this determination in the future, for example, if the scope of a Freedom of Information Act request includes your information. In all review situations, if the NRC makes a determination adverse to the above, you will be notified in advance of any public disclosure.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, I may be reached at 301-415-8480.

Sincerely, Andrew Hon, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch 11-2 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-325 and 50-324 cc: See next page

W. Gideon cc: Ms. Lisa K. Schichlein Senior Project Manager, NPP/Services Licensing Regulatory Affairs General Electric-Hitachi Nuclear Energy America LLC 3901 Castle Hayne Road Wilmington, NC 28401 Mr. Alan B. Meginnis Manager, Product Licensing AREVA Inc.

3315 Old Forest Road P.O. Box 10935 Lynchburg, VA 24506-0935 Mr. Randy Stark Director, Research and Develop, Fuel & Chemistry Electric Power Research Institute 3420 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304-1338 Additional Distribution via Listserv

ML18010A847 OFFICE DORL/LS PB/PM DORL/LPL2-2/PM DORL/LPL2-2/LA NAME Slee AHon BClayton DATE 03/30/18 04/02/18 03/29/18 OFFICE DSS/SRXB/BC DORL/LPL2-2/BC (A) DORL/LPL2-2/PM NAME JWhitman (A) BTindell AHon DATE 04/03/18 04/04/18 04/05/18