ML20069B183

Resubmits Affidavit for GE Abwr,Proprietary Info Section 18H, Supporting Analysis for Emergency Control Operation Info

ML20069B183
Person / Time
Site:	05200001
Issue date:	05/25/1994
From:	Quirk J GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.
To:	Borchardt R NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM), Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
NUDOCS 9405270098
Download: ML20069B183 (4)

Text

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May 25,1994 Docket No.52-001 _ l 1

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Document Control Desk .!

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington DC 20555 Attention: R. W. Borchardt, Director Standardization Project Directorate

Subject:

Resubmittal of Affidavit for GE's ABWR SSAR, Proprietary Information Section 18H

Reference:

Submittal of Amendment 34, Proprietary Information to GE's ABWR SSAR MFN No. 033-94, Dated March 31,1994 1 1

Enclosed is an affidavit which supercedes the affidavit submitted by the Reference Letter and related to the same information sought to be withheld: GE ABWR SSAR Section 18H, Supporting Analysis for Emergency Control Operation Information.

Sincerely, n f

• ift9 J sep F. Quir Y ,

i roject Manager ABWR Certification MC-782, (408)925-6219 cc: S. A. Hucik (GE)

W. T. Russell (NRC)

F. J. Miraglia (NRC)

T. II. Boyce (NRC)

D. M. Crutchfield (NRC)

N. D. Fletcher (DOE) .

S. M. Franks (DOE) -

D. J. McGoff (DOE)

F. A. Ross (DOE)

K. E. Stahlkopf (EPRI)

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t GENERAL. ELECTRIC COMPANY AFFIDAVIT I, Joseph F. Quirk, being duly sworn, depose and state as follows:

L (1) I am Project Manager, ABWR Certification, General Electric Company ("GE" and have been delegated the function of reviewing the information described paragraph 2 which is sought to be withheld, and have been authorized to apply for its withholding.

l (2) The information sought to be withheld is the attached GE ABWR SSAR Section

l. 18H, Supporting Analysis for Emergency Control Operation Information. This l

affidavit supercedes the affidavit submitted by Patrick W. Marriott dated March i 31,1994 and related to the same information hereby sought to be withheld.

(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 l information obtai(ned from a person and privileged or confidential" Exem '

4). The material for which exemption from disclosure is here sough (t is all

" confidential commercial information", and some portions also qualify under the narrower definition of" trade secret", within the meanin s assigned to those terms for purposes of FOIA Exemption 4 in, respective , Critical Mass Enercy ~

Ptoject v. Nuclear Reculatory Commission. 975F2d871 DC Cir.1992), and Public Citizen Health Research Group v. FDA,704F2d1280 (DC Cir.1983).

(4) Some examples of categories ofinformation which fit into the definition of -

proprietary mformation are:

l a. Information that discloses a process, method, or apparatus, including supporting data an 1 analyses, where prevention of its use by GE's competitors without license from GE 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;

c. Information which reveals cost or price information, production capacities, budget levels, or commercial strategies of.GE, its customers, or its suppliers;

d. Information which reveals aspects of past, present, or future GE customer-funded development plans and programs, of potential commercial value to GE; Affidavit Page 1

.i

e. Information which discloses patentable subject matter for which it may be desirable to obtain patent protection;

f. Information which is based on proprietary information and from which such proprietary information is discernible.

The information sought to be withheld is considered to be proprietary for the reasons set forth in paragraphs (4)a, (4)b, and (4)f 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. Its initial designation as proprietary information, and the subsequent steps taken to prevent its unauthorizec disclosure, are as set forth in (6) and (7) followmg. The mformation sought to be withheld has, to the best of my knowledge and belief, consistently been held in confidence by GE, no pubhc 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 proprietar agreements which provide for maintenance of the information in confidence.y (6) Initial ap, proval of proprietary treatment of a document is made by the manager -

of the originating com aonent, the person most likely to be acquainted with the value and sensitivity o' the informatian 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 i requires review by the staff manager, project manager, principal scientist or  !

other ec uivalent authority, by the manager of the cognizant marketing function  !

(or his c elegate), 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) Section 1811 identified in Paragrap,h (2) above is proprietary because, for example, confidential information is discernible from the detailed emergency control operation contained in Section 18H. By way of example, but not by way of limitation, the procedures set forth by GE in Section 18H necessarily are based upon the design of a control room. The control room design utih, zed by GE in conducting its detailed analysis and in generating Section 18H is proprietary. GE and other parties contributed to such controi room design.

While GE is an owner of some of the confidential information defining the ,

control room design, other parties own other information defimng the control roomGEdesign. portions has access of the confidential to the entire control room design via various agreements which contain, among other provisions, confidentiality obligations. Confidential information is necessarily -

discernible from the detailed emergency control operation information contained in Section 18H. Importantly, however, and as explained in Paragraph (3) above, GE is the owner of the analysis set forth in Section 18H.

Affidavit Page 2 e

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3 The development of Section 18H and the control room design was achieved at a significant cost, on the order of several hundred thousand dollars, to GE.

The other parties who contributed to the control room design expended substantially more resources in creating their portions of the design.

The development of the control room related study 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 opportumties. 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 includes development of the expertise to determine and apply the a,ppropriate application of the analysis ,

for emergency control operation information.

GE's com titive advantage will be lost ifits com etitors are able to use the I 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 ~l of the opportunity to exercise its large investment in developing the supporting I analysis for emergency control operation information.  ;

STATE OF CALIFORNIA )

COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA )bb j

\

Joseph F. Quirk, being duly sworn, deposes and says- l That he has read the foregoing affidavit and the matters stated therein are true and correct to the best of his knowledge, Executed at San Jose, California, this 2Mday of New . ,19$

$ l -

Joseph F. Quirk"  ;

General Electric Company  ;

Subscribed and sworn before me this J5 day of (Dog ,19h O c-Rh2htL NotplryfuDlic, State 01 California j

JAcouEUNE COWA 8961032 ANN BRADLEY I

. -l Notary Pmem SANTA CLARA COUNTY f Affidavit Page 3 My comm. expires hMR 26,1996 f

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