ML20084F946

Requests Withholding Proprietary Response to NRC Question 491.2 from Public Disclosure.Affidavit Encl

ML20084F946
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	03/29/1984
From:	Wieseman R, Wiesemann R WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY, DIV OF CBS CORP.
To:	Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML19269A039	List: ML20084F941 ML20084F946
References
AW-76-10, CAW-84-23, NUDOCS 8405040371
Download: ML20084F946 (10)

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x NuclearTechnology Division Westinghouse Water Reactor Electric Corporation Divisions 30, 333 PittsbirghPennsylvania15230 March 29, 1984 Mr. Harold R. Denton, Director CAW-84-23 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555 APPLICATION FOR WITHHOLDING PROPRIETARY INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE

REFERENCE:

Georgia Power Company letter dated April 1984

Dear Mr. Denton:

The proprietary material for which withholding is being requested by the Georgia Power Company is further identified in an affidavit signed by the owner of the proprietary information, Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

The proprietary material for which withholding is being requested is of the same technical type as that proprietary material previously submitted with application for withholding AW-76-10. The affidavit AW-76-10 submitted to justify the previous material is equally applicable to this material.

It is respectfully requested that the information which is proprietary to Westinghouse and which is further identified in the affidavit be withheld.

from public disclosure in accordance with 10CFR Section 2.790 of the Com-mission's regulations.

Accordingly, this letter authorizes the utilization of the accompanying affidavit in support.of the Georgia Power Company.

Correspondence with respect to the proprietary aspects of the application for withholding or the Westinghouse affidavit should reference this -letter, CAW-84-23, and should be addressed to the undersigned.

Very truly yours, Robert A. Wiesemann, Manager

/bek. Regulatory & Legislative Affairs cc: E. C. Shomaker, Esq.

Office of the . Executive Legal Director, NRC -

-8405040371 840427 PDR ADOCK 05000424 A .

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AW-76-10 l

I AFFIDAVIT

.I i COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA:

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-mints of fact set forth in this Affidavit are true and correct to the best of his knowledge, information, and belief:

OldtM Robert A. Wiesemann, Manager Licensing Programs Sworn to and subscribed bnfore me this /id day of 24hv 1976.

{'h w e . , + .a i x bl Notary Public 7'

GENEVIEVE K"J ' ' J PUBUC MONROEVlut . e.s'00GH

• • LLLlaHL.11 LubdTY MY COMh4534GN LVIRf.S JULY 22,1976 l l

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AW-76-10 (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 Section 2.790 of the Commission's regulations and in con-

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junction with the Westinghouse application for withholding 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 -i:s furnished for consideration by the Commission in determining whether the in-fonmation sought to be withheld from public disclosure should be withheld. .

(i) The information sought to be withheld from public disclosure is owned and has been held in confidence of Westinghouse.

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

Westinghouse has a rational basis for determining the types of information customarily held in confidence by it and, in that connection, utilizes a system to determine when and whether to hold certain types of infomation 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.

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

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l (c) Its use 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 a similar product.

(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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- AW-76-10

. (b) It is information which is marketable in many ways.

l The extent to which such information is available to competitors diminishes the Westinghouse ability to sell products and services involving the use 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 l

to a particular competitive advantage is potentially 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.

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

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(f) The Westinghouse capacity to invest corporate assets in research and development depends upon the success in obtaining and maintaining a competitive advantage.

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AW-76-10 (iii) The information is being transmitted to the Comission in 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.

(v) The proprietary information sought to be withheld in this submittal is that which is appropriately marked in Attachment II to Commonwealth Edison Company letter, Plim1 to Purple dated

. May 4, 1976, concerning reload safety and licensing. This information is being provided in support of a reload review 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:

i (a) Justify the design basis for the fuel (b) Assist its customers to obtain licenses (c) Meet warranties Further, this information has substantial comercial 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 uses 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 unde--tanding of the factors and parameters which are variable in the process of uesign 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. .,

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.

AW-76-10 i

l Thus. the essence of the competitive advantage in this field lies in an understanding of which analyses should be performed and in the mathods and models used to perform these analyses. A substantial part of this competitive advantage will be lost if the competitors of W:stinghouse 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. s As such, it is broadly applicable to the sale and licensing of fuel in

. prcssurized water reactors. The development of this information is the c

result of many years of Westinghouse effort and the expenditure of a considerable sum of money. While the_ analyses for this specific application w2s 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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NRC Question 491.2 .

Response,:

The _ control rod withdrawal at zero power event uses the following: ,

Moderator temperature coefficient 0 pcm/*F Radial power peaking factor [ ]a,c Axial power peaking factor [ ]a,c Axial power shape [ ]a,c These peaking factors were used for hot spot fuel and clad temperature calculations.

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