ML20129H386

Forwards Proprietary Response to NRC RAI Re Minimum Critical Power Safety Limit.Affidavit,Encl.Response Withheld Per 10CFR2.790

ML20129H386
Person / Time
Site:	Grand Gulf
Issue date:	10/22/1996
From:	Hagan J ENTERGY OPERATIONS, INC.
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
Shared Package
ML19353D916	List: ML20129H386
References
GNRO-96-00119, GNRO-96-119, NUDOCS 9610310264
Download: ML20129H386 (10)

Text

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, Entirgy operiti:ns,Inc.

l OkfJJ l P.O. Box 756 Port Gibson, MS 39150 l

Tel 601437 6408 l Fax 601437 2795 October 22,1996 $$'gpf;lagan l Opsations Grand Gulf Nuclear Station i

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l U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

! Mail Station P1-37 Washington, D.C. 20555 Attention: Document Control Desk

Subject:

Grand Gulf Nuclear Station Docket No. 50-416 License No. NPF-29 Cycle 9 Reload Revised Response to NRC Request for Additional Information Regarding Minimum Critical Power Safety Limit

References:

1. GNRO-96/0053, Proposed Amendment to the Operating License, dated May,5,1996

2. GNRO-96/0087, Revision to Proposed Amendment to the Operating License, dated July,31,1996

3. GNRO-96/00100, Response to NRC Request for Additional Information Regarding Minimum Critical Power Safety Limit GNRO: 96/00119 Gentlemen:

By letter dated August 22,1996, the staff requested information regarding proposed changes to the minimum critical power safety limit in the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station Technical Specifications (references 1 and 2). EOl responded to this request on September 5,1996 (reference 3). Discussions of these response <3 were held with members of the staff on October 10,1996. These discussions concluded that the response to question 2 should be supplemented to provide additional details regarding the use of SPC (Siemens Power Corporation) experimental critical power test data in the GGNS Cycle 9 MCPR safety limit analysis. In addition, the staff raised questions concerning the statistical expressions used to determine uncertainty values. A revised response to question 2 is attached.

Based on the guidelines in 10CFR50.92, EOl has concluded that the revised A

/'POfb response involves no additional significant hazards considerations.

l General Electric (GE) considers portions of the information contained in this I

submittal to be proprietary. The proprietary portions are marked by vertical bars in y 7, , the right hand margin. In accordance with the requirements of 10CFR2.790(b), an 9610310264 961022 PDR ADOCK 05000416 P PDR

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GNRO-96/00119 Page 2 of 4 ,

i affidavit (Attachment 3) is provided to support withholding of the information from public disclosure.

Portions of the information considered proprietary by Siemens Power Corporation (SPC) are enclosed with "[ ]". This information was obtained from Topical Report '

ANF-1125, Supplement 1 (P)(A), a proprietary document previously approved by the staff on March 8,1990. Since this information has already been approved as i proprietary, an application for withholding is not being submitted. Of course, the  !

l Information should continue to be treated as proprietary.

In addition,'some information is considered proprietary by EOl and is enclosed

within "{ }". This information was developed by EOl using a combination of data l and analytical methods considered proprietary by both GE and SPC. EOl's l contractual obligations prohibit disclosure of this information to other persons or ,

agencies. Therefore EOl is applying Sr its withholding per 10CFR2.790(b). An l affidavit for this request is included as Attachrnent 4.

Yours truly, f  !

i g -

J JJH/RWB/be attachments: 1. Affir per 10CFR2.790

2. Revised EOl Response to NRC Request for Additional Information l 3. GE Affidavit to Support the Withholding of Proprietary Information l- 4. EOl Affidavit Request for Withholding Per 10CFR2.790(b) i cc: (See Next Page) l

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GNRO-96/00119 l Page 3 of 4 l cc: Ms. S. C. Black (w/a) (NRC/NRR)

Mr. A. Heymer (NEI)  ;

l Mr. R. B. McGehee (w/a)

Mr. N. S. Reynolds (w/a) l Mr. J. E. Tedrow (w/a) )

Mr. H. L. Thomas (w/o) l Mr. J. W. Yelvertori (w/a)

Mr. L. J. Callan (w/a) l Regional Administrator l U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011 l Mr. T. P. Gwynn i

Director, Division of Reactor Safety l U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400 Arlington, TX 76011 Mr. J. N. Donohew, Project Manager (w/2)

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission l Mail Stop 13H3 Washington, D.C. 20555 Mr. A. C. Thadani Associate Director for Technical Assessment ,

i Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation l

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission l Mail Stop 13H3 Washington, D.C. 20555 l

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.' Att chm:nt 1 to:

GNRO-96/0011C Page 1 of 1 BEFORE THE l UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION l LICENSE NO. NPF-29 DOCKET NO. 50-416 l lN THE MATTER OF ENTERGY MISSISSIPPI l and SYSTEM ENERGY RESOURCES, INC.

! and SOUTH MISSISSIPPI ELECTRIC POWER ASSOCIATION and ENTERGY OPERATIONS, INC.

1 AFFIRMATION

)

l 1, J. J. Hagan, being duly sworn, state that I am Vice President, Operations GGNS of

! Entergy Operations, Inc.; that on behalf of Entergy Operations, Inc., System Energy Resources, Inc., and South Mississippi Electric Power Association I am authorized by Entergy Operations, Inc. to sign and file with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, this applicction; that I signed this application as Vice President, Operations GGNS of Entergy Operations, Inc.; and that the statements made and the matters set forth therein are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.

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l STATE OF MISSISSIPPI COUNTY OF CLAIBORNE SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me, a Notary Public, in and for the County and State abbve named, this 22'* day of ee.-r.au. ,1996.

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M L 6)&../l.O Notary Public' i

My commission expires:

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Attachm:nt 3 to: i GNRO-96/00119 Page 1 of 1 GE Affidavit to Support the Withholding of Proprietary Information 1.

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GENuclear Energy GeneralElectac Company P O Box 780, Wilmington. NC 28402 Affidavit I, Ralph J. Reda, being duly sworn, depose and state as follows:

(1) I am Manager, Fuels and Facility Licensing, General Electric Company ("GE") and have been delegated the function of reviewing the infonnation 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 the document Clarifications to ]

Responses to NRC Requestfor AdditionalInformation (RA1) regarding GGNS Proposed i Amendment to the Operating Limit, dated August 30,1996, and is indicated by " bars" drawn )

in the margin of the text.

(3) In making this application for withholding of proprietary information of which it is the i 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 CFF. 9.17(a)(4) and 2.790(a)(4) for " trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential" (Exemption 4). The material for which exemption from disclosure is here sought is all

" confidential commercial information," and some portions also qualify under the narrower definition of" trade secret," within the meanings assigned to those terms for purposes of FOI A Exemption 4 in, respectively, Critical Mass Enerev Proiect v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 975F2d871 (DC Cir.1992), and Public Citizen Health Research Group v.

EDA,704F2dl280 (DC Cir.1983).

(4) Some examples of categories ofinformation which 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 General Electric's competitors withe it license from General Electric constitutes a competitive economic advaraage 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, l budget levels, or commercial strategies of General Electric, its customers, or i

its suppliers;

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

_ _ _ _ . _ _ ___.-m _ _ . _ _ . _ . _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ._..___ ,

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AWidavit

e. 'Information which discloses patentable subject matter for which it may be {

desirable to obtain patent protection.

f. The information sought to be withheld is considered to be proprietary for the i reasons set forth in both paragraphs (4)a. and (4)b., above.

l (5) The infonnation 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 j initial designation as proprietary information, and the subsequent steps taken to prevent its  :

unauthorized disclosure, are as set forth in (6) and (7) following. The information sought to be withheld has, to the best of my knowledge and belief, censistently been held in

!- confidence by GE, no public 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 proprietary agreements which provide for maintenance of the information in confM ace.

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.'(6)' initial approval of proprietary treatment of a document m eh by the manager of the l' originating component, the person most likely to be acquamted with the value and sensitivity L of the information in relation to industry knowledge. Access to such documents within GE is

. limited on a "need to know" basis.

1

- (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, by the manager of the cognizant marketing function (or his delegate), and by the Legal l

Operation, for technical content, competitive effect, and determination of the accuracy of the j proprietary designation. Disclosures outside GE are limited to regulatory bodies, customers, l I

and potential customers, and their agents, suppliers, and licensees, and others with a j- legitimate need for the information, and then only in accordance with appropriate regulatory

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provisions or proprietary agreements.

i (8) The information identified in paragraph (2) is classified as proprietary because it contams -

details of GE's Safety Limit MCPR analysis and the corresponding results which GE has  !

! applied to GGNS's actual core design with GE's gel 1 fuel.  !

The development of the methods used in these analysis, along with the testing, development and approval of the supporting critical power correlation was achieved at a significant cost, j- on the order of several million dollars, to GE.

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(9) Public disclosure of the information sought to be withheld is likely to cause substantial harm l

to GE's competitive position and foreclose or reduce the availability of profit-making  !

opportunities. The fuel design is part of GE's comprehensive BWR safety and technology base, and its commercial value extends beyond the original development cost. The value of i 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 r done with NRC-approved methods.

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i i l The research, development, engineering, analytical, and NRC review costs comprise a i . substantial investment of time and money by GE.

, The precise value of the expertise to devise an evaluation process and apply the correct j

analytical methodology is difficult to quantify, but it clearly is substantial. J I

! GE's competitive advantage will be lost ifits competitors are able to use the 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 ca 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

j to undertake a similar expenditure of resources would unfairly provide competitors with a j windfall, and deprive GE of the opportunity to exercise its competitive advantage to seek an

adequate return on its large investment in developing these very valuable analytical tools.

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State of North Carolina ) sg:

. County of New llanover )

l Ralph J. Reda, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

That he has read the foregoing affidavit and the matters stated therein are true and correct to i the best of his knowledge, information, and belief.

! Executed at Wilmington, North Carolina, this Mday of IModd'4 ,19 94

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Ra! .Reda General Electric Company i

Subscribed and sworn before me this ll day of Ob6( ,19

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9k 0.6 / i g+f.^? 't Notary Public, State of North Carolina gQ O f

. My commission expires W commicelan r.,a,-g gp

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Attachm:nt 4 to:

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, GNRO-96/00119 Page 1 of 2 EOI Affidavit Request for Withholding Per 10CFR2.790(b) l l

l Affidavit I, Michael J. Meisner, state that I am Director of Nuclear Safety & Regulatory Affairs of Entergy Operations, Inc.; (EOl) and that I dispose and state the following:

l 1. I am designated by EOl to review the confidential commercial information referenced herein l which is sought to be withheld and authorized to apply for the withholding of the information on behalf of Entergy Operations, Inc. I am submitting this affidavit in conformance with the provisions of 10 CFR 2.970 (b)(1) and in conjunction with the application of EOl for withholding this information.

l l 2. EOl seeks to withhold from public disclosure portions of its response to question 2 in l Attachment 2 of the document GNRO-96/00119, Revised Response to NRC Request for l Additional Information Regarding Minimum Critical Power Safety Limit, October 22,1996.

l The information in the submittal has been marked as confidential.

i 3. EOl has a rational basis for determining the type of information customarily held in confidence by it and reviews documents or reports which might contain confidential )

information to determine whether the subject documents should be accorded confidential treatment. This review concluded that the indicated portions of the subject document referenced herein does contain confidential commercial information which justifies it being withheld from public disclosure.

4. This information is of the type customarily held in confidence by EOl and its fuel suppliers and, other than the Commission, is intended to be held in confidence and not disclosed to the public. The information is classified as confidential because it contains information on test data and analytical methods applied to Grand Gulf Nuclear Station's Cycle 9 core design

, which contains both GE11 fuel and SPC 9X9-5 fuel. Although EOl is the owner of the l

information, the information was developed by using data and analytical methods which l General Electric and Siemens Power Co. individually designate as proprietary. Entergy Operations is under contractual obligation to General Electric and Siemens Power Co. to treat this information as proprietary.

5. The research, development, engineering and NRC review costs comprise an investment of l l

time and costs to GE, SPC, and EOI. Disclosure of this information to a competitor would l permit the competitor to improve its competitive position by giving valuable insights into BWR fuel design and licensing methodology. In addition, disclosure would harm EOl's contractual obligations related to this information.

6. The information sought to be withheld has been held in confidence by EOl and its contractors.

7. The information, to the best of my knowledge and belief, is not available in public sources, and any disclosure to third parties has and will be made only to the regulatory requirements

( of proprietary agreements which provice for the maintenance of this information.

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I Attichm:nt 4 to:

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.. GNRO-96/00119  ;

l- Page 2 of 2 l EOl Affidavit Request for Withholding Per 10CFR2.790(b) l l

l THAT the statements made hereinabove are, to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, truthful and complete.

1 I I l >

I M. J. Meisner -

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI COUNTY OF chaus i

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me, a Notary Public, in and for the county and state above named, this e z " day of -een a.. .1996

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> gyi nc Nismcr.a Jer 2 Not'ary Public

! My comminion expires: co;cDTic')EEm sta Sgj?.'M CE l

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