ML20062M466

Requests Withholding of Proprietary Info Contained in Response to NRC Inquiry Re Elevation Dependent Peaking Factor.Use of Encl Nonproprietary Affidavit AW-76-10 & Proprietary Affidavit 770302 Authorized

ML20062M466
Person / Time
Site:	Farley
Issue date:	11/13/1981
From:	Wiesemann R WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY, DIV OF CBS CORP.
To:	Denton S, Varga S Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML19268A572	List: ML20062M456 ML20062M466
References
CAW-81-83, NUDOCS 8112170250
Download: ML20062M466 (10)

Text

Westinghouse Water Reactor MeadeW mDem Electric Corporation Divisions ne emur Femsv.ama em November 13, 1981 CAW-81-83 Mr. Harold R. Denton, Director 50-348 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation NPF-2 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Comission Washington, D. C. 20555 50-364 NPF-8 Attention: Mr. S. A. Varga, Chief Operating Reactors Branch No. 1

SUBJECT:

J. M. Farley Units 1 and 2, " Elevation Dependent Peak'ing Factor" (Proprietary)

REF: Alabama Power Company letter, Clayton to Denton, November 1981

Dear Mr. Denton:

The proprietary material for which withholding is being requested by Alabama Power Company is of the same technical type as that proprietary material pre-viously submitted by Westinghouse in application for withholding AW-76-10 and was accompanied by affidavits signed by the owner of the proprietary information, Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

The previous application for withholding, AW-76-10, was acccmpanied by a proprietary and a non-proprietary affidavit. Further, these affidavits, submitted to justify the previous material, were approved by the Comission on July 26, 1977, and are equally applicable to the subject material.

The subject proprietary material is being submitted in support of the re-quested peaking factor data.

Accordingly, this letter authorizes the utilization of the previously fur-nished affidavits in support of Alabama Power Company, J. M. Farley Units 1 and 2. A copy of the non-proprietary affidavit, AW-76-10, dated May 12, 1976, is attached. The proprietary affidavit, not attached, was sent to the Commission on March 2, 1977.

8112170255 811118 PDR ADOCK 05000348

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! Mr. H. R. Denton November 13, 1981 CAW-81-83.

Correspondence with respect to the proprietary' aspects of the application for withholding, or the Westir.ghouse affidavit, should reference CAW-81-83 and should be addressed to the undersigned.

Very truly yours,

// Hua Robert A. Wiesemann, Manager Regulatory & Legislative Aff airs

/bek cc: E. C. Shomaker, Esq.

Office of the Executive Legal Director, NRC

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AW-76-10 AFFIDAVIT COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA.

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COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY:

Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared Robert A. Wiesemann, who, being by me duly sworn according to law, de-poses and says that he is authorized to execute this Affidavit on behalf of Westinghouse Electric Corporation (" Westinghouse") and that the aver-ments of fact set forth in this Affidavit are true and correct to the best of his knowledge, infomation, and belief: -

i NkEllM.iLi Robert A. Wiesemann, Manager Licensing Programs Sworn to and subscribed before me this /"S day of 72 w / 1976.

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GENEYDE K'SH. NOTARY PUBUC a4CNROEVILLE E0 ROUGH m n cer cubt:TY MY COWhmM LviRI.S JULY 22,1976

- 5 AW-76-10

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(1) I am Manager, Licensing Programs, in the Pressurized Water Reactor Systems Division, of Westinghouse Electric Corporation and as such, I have been specifically delegated the function of reviewing the

- proprietary information sought to be withheld from public dis-closure in connection with nuclear power plant licensing or rule-making proceedings, and am authorized to apply for its withholding on behalf of the Westinghouse Water Reactor Divisions.

(2) I am making this Affidavit in conformance with the provisions of 10 CFR Se: tion 2.790 of the Commission's regulations and in con-junction with the Westinghouse application for withhciding ac-

companying this Affidavit.

('3) I have personal knowledge of the criteria and procedures utilized by Westinghouse Nuclear Energy Systems in designating information as a trade secret, privileged or as confidential commercial or financial information.

- (4) Pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (b)(4) of Section 2.790 of the Commission's regulations, the following is furnished for consideration by the Commission in determining whether the in-l formation sought to be withheld from public disclosure should be withheld.

(1) The information sought to be withheld from public disclosure

- is owned and has been hsid in confidence by Westinghouse.

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AW-76-10 (ii) The infer =stion is of a type customarily held in confidence by Westinghouse and not customarily disclosed to the public.

Westi ghouse has a rational basis for determining the types of infonnation customarily held in confidence by it and, in that connection, utilizes a system to determine'when and whetner to hold certain types of information in confidence.

The application of that system and the substance of that system constitutes Westinghouse policy and provides the rational basis required.

Under that system, information is h' eld in confidence if it falls in one or more of several types, the release of which might result in the loss of an existing or potential com-petitive advantage, as follows:

(a) The information reveals the distinguishing aspects of a process (or component, structure, tool, method, etc.)

where prevention of its use by any of Westinghouse's competitors without license from Westinghouse consti-tutes a competitive economic advantage over other companies.

l (b) It consists of supporting data, including test data, relative to a process (or component, structure, tool, method, etc.), the applicatian of which data secures a competitive economic advantagd, e.g., by optimization or improved marketability. {

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(c) Its use by a competitor would reduce his expenditure '

of resources or improve his competitive position in the ,

design, manufacture, ships.ent, installation, assurance '

. . of quality, or licensing a similar produc't. .

(d) It reveals cost or price information, production cap-acities, budget levels, or commercial strategies of Westinghouse, its customers or suppliers.

(e) It reveals aspects of past, present, or future West-inghouse or customer funded development plans and pro-grams of potential commercial value to Westinghouse.

(f) It contains patentable ideas,.for which patent pro-tection may be desirable.

(g) It is not the property of Westinghouse, but must be treated as proprietary by Westinghouse according to agreements with the owner.

There are sound policy reasons behind the Westinghouse system which include the following:

(a) The use of such information by Westinghouse gives Westinghouse a competitive advantage over its com-petitors. It is, therefore, withheld from disclosure

to protect the Westinghouse. competitive position.

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. 1 AW-76-10 (b) It is information which is marketable in many ways.

The extent to which such information is available to competitors diminishes the Westinghouse abflity to

. sell products and services involving the (,se of the information.

(c) Use by our competitor would put Westinghouse at a competitive disadvantage by reducing his expenditure of resources at our expense.

,, (d) Each component of proprietary information pertinent

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to a particular competitive advantage is potentially

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as valuable as the total competitive advantage. 'If competitors acquire components of proprietary infor--

mation, any one component may be-the key to the entire puzzle, thereby depriving Westinghouse of a competitive advantage.

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(e) Unrestricted disclosure would jeopardize the position of prominence of Westinghouse in the world market, and thereby give a market advantage to the competition I, in those countries.

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<' (f) The Westinghouse capacity to invest corporate assets

, in research and development depends upon the success

~r ' ~ , in obtaining and maintaining a competitive advantage.

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(iii) The information is being transmitted to the Commission in

.s - confidence and, under the provisions of 10 CFR Section 2.790, it is to be received in confidence by the Commission.

... ~(iv) Thi information is not available in public sources to the best of our knowledge and belief.

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<s ,,. (v). The proprietary information sought to be withheld in this I subnittal is that which is appropriately marked in Attachment II to Commonwealth Edison Company letter, Pliml to Purple dated

's May 4, 1976, concerning reload safety and licensing. This information is being provided in support of a reload revi9w of Commonwealth Edison's Zion Station Unit 1, plant for cycle 2 operation. This information is required per NRC Branch Technical Position CPB 4.3-1 " Westinghouse Constant Axial Offset Control (CAOC)" since the applicant proposes cycle 2 CAOC operation for Fg = 2.25.

~. This information enables Westinghouse to:

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'+ (a) Justify the design basis for the fuel (b) Assist its customers to obtain licenses (c) Meet warranties Further, this information has substantial commercial value as follows:

- (a) Westinghouse sells the use of the information to its customers for purposes of meeting NRC requirements for licensing documentation.

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AW-76-10 (b) Westinghouse utes the information to perform and justify analyses which are sold to customers.

(c) Westinghouse uses the information to sell nuclear fuel and related services to its customers.

Public disclosure of this information is likely to cause sub-stantial harm to the competitive position of Westinghouse in selling nuclear fuel and related services.

Westinghouse retains a marketing advantage by virtue of the knowledge, experience and competence it has gained through long involvement and considerable investment in all aspects of the nuclear ~ power. generation.

industry. In particular Westinghouse has developed a unique understanding of the factors and parameters which are variable in the process of design of nuclear fuel and which do affect the in service performance of the fuel and its suitability for the purpose for which it was provided. 3

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In all cases that purpose is to generate energy in a safe and efficient manner while enabling the operating nuclear generating station to meet all regulatory requirements affected by the core loading of nuclear fuel.

Confidence in being able to accomplish this comes from the exercise of judgement based on experience, in,the application of empirically derived models based on prior data and in the use of proven analytical models to simulate behavior of the fuel in normal operation and under hypothetical transients.

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Thus, the essence of the competitive advantage in this field lies in an understanding of which analyses should be perforded and in the methods and models used to perform these analyses. A substantial part of this competitive advantage will be lost if the competitors of

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Westiaghouse are able to use the results of the analyses in the attached document to normalize or verify their own methods or models or if they are able to claim an equivalent understanding by demonstrating that they can arrive at the same or similar results. Its use by a competitor would reduce his expenditure of resources or improve his competitive position in the design and licensing of a similar product.

This information is a product of Westinghouse design technology.

As such, it is broadly applicable to the sale and licensing of fuel in pressurized water reactors. The development of this information is the result of many years of Westinghouse effort and the expenditure of a considerable sum of money. While the analyses for this specific application was not unique,'in order for competitors of Westinghouse to duplicate this information would require the investment of substantially the same amount of effort and expertise that Westinghouse possesses and which was.

acquired over a period of more than fifteen years and by the investment of millions of dollars. Over the years, this has included the development of heat transfer codes, nuclear analysis codes, transient analysis codes, core and system simulation methods and an experimental data base to support them.

Further the deponent sayeth not.

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