ML20149G427

Supplements Application for Amend to License NPF-57, Submitted 970331.Supplement Provides Revised SLMCPR Values for Upcoming Operating Cycle (Cycle 8).TSs & Proprietary Info Re SLMCPR Changes,Encl.Proprietary Info,Withheld

ML20149G427
Person / Time
Site:	Hope Creek
Issue date:	07/16/1997
From:	Storz L Public Service Enterprise Group
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
Shared Package
ML19317C513	List: ML20149G427 ML20149G430
References
LCR-H97-05, LCR-H97-5, LR-N97433, NUDOCS 9707230202
Download: ML20149G427 (9)

Text

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Pubhc Service Electnc and Gas Comparr/

L uis F. Storz Public Service Electric and Gas Company P.O. Box 236. Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 609-339-5700 s , e, me r,.Lom . ~ , o ,.=

JUL 161997

LR-N97433 LCR H97-05 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Document Control Desk Washington, DC 20555 Gentlemen

REQUEST FOR CHANGE TO TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS (SUPPLEMENT)

SAFETY LIMIT MINIMUM CRITICAL POWER RATIO (SLMCPR)

HOPE CREEK GENERATING STATION FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NPF-57 DOCKET NO. 50-354 On March 31, 1997, Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) Company L transmitted, via letter LR-N97187, a proposed change to the Hope 1 Creek Technical Specifications (TS). The proposed changes L revised TS 2.1.2, " THERMAL POWER, High Pressure and High Flow",

ACTION a.1.c for LCO 3.4.1.1, " Recirculation Loops" and the Bases for TS 2.1, " Safety Limits". The changes contained in that request implemented an appropriately conservative Safety Limit Minimum Critical Power Ratio (SLMCPR) for Hope Creek's Cycle 7 (current cycle) core and fuel designs. Justification for those proposed changes was developed from General Electric SLMCPR analyses performed to address SLMCPR issues identified in a 10CFR21 notification made by General Electric on May 24, 1996.

This letter supplements the original TS change request by providing revised SLMCPR values for the upcoming operating cycle (Cycle 8). The justification for these proposed changes is being revised to include Cycle 8 specific analyses and the 10CFR50.92 evaluation is being appropriately updated to reflect the new changes. The proposed changes have been evaluated in accordance with 10CFR50. 91 (a) (1) , using the criteria in 10CFR50. 92 (c) , and a determination has been made that this request involves no significant hazards considerations.

The basis for the requested change is provided in Attachment 1 to this letter. A 10CFR50.92 evaluation, with a determination of no )

significant hazards consideration, is provided in Attachment 2. l The marked up Technical Specification pages affected by the l proposed changes are provided in Attachment 3. Pursuant to Attachment 4 of this letter, this submittal contains proprietary THE ATTACHMENTS TO THIS LETTER CONTAIN PROPRIETARY INFORMATION ( l

- NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE -

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Document Control Desk JUL 161997 .

4 _LR-N97433  !

information and therefore--should be withheld from'public  ;

disclosure. Attachment 5 of this letter provides additional t

- information relative to~the Hope Creek Cycle 7 SLMCPR' analyses. .'

'Upon NRC approval of this proposed' change, PSE&G requests that the' amendment be made effective on the date of issuance, but t- allow an implementation period-of sixty days to provide sufficient time for associated administrative activities. A copy cof this submittal has been transmitted to the State of New L Jersey.

i i

Should.you haverany. questions regarding this~ request, we will be

. pleased to-discuss them with you, f

Sincerely,

'Q . y

/@w - C Affidavit Attachments (5)

THE ATTACMMENTS TO THIS LETTER CONTAIN PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

- NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE -

95-4933 L; ,. - - _. ._. _ _ , _ . - , . -. , _ . . , _ . , _.

Document Control Desk LR-N97433 JUL 161997 C Mr. H. Miller, Administrator - Region I U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

. 475 Allendale. Road King of Prussia, PA 19406 l

Mr. D. Jaffe, Licensing Project Manager - HC 1 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission One White Flint North 11555 Rockville Pike Mail Stop 14E21 l Rockville, MD 20852 Mr. S. Morris (X24)

USNRC Senior Resident Inspector - HC Mr. K. Tosch, Manager IV Bureau of Nuclear Engineering 33 Arctic Parkway CN 415 l Trenton, NJ 08625 THE ATTACHMENTS TO THIS LETTER CONTAIN PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

- NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE -

REF: LR-N97433 LCR H97-05

. STATE.0F NEW JERSEY )

) SS.

COUNTY OF SALEM ).

l L. F. Storz, being duly sworn according to law deposes and says:  ;

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.I am Senior Vice President - Nuclear Operations of Public Service I Electric and Gas Company, and-as such, I find the matters set i forth in the above referenced letter, concerning Hope Creek Generating Station, Unit 1, are true to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.

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o Subscribed and Sworn to before me this /6 day of ((4 l u , 1997 d'

r]a+ $

Notary Public of New Jersey BARBARA A.POWU1 NOTARY PMUC OF NEWJEIISET wy ten

• sin tem on.2, m My Commission expires on i0#2198323 THE ATTACHMENTS TO THIS LETTER CONTAIN PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

- NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE -

ATTACHMENT 4 LR-N97433 HOPE CREEK GENERATING STATION FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NPF-57 DOCKET NO. 50-354 SAFETY. LIMIT MINIMUM CRITICAL POWER RATIO (SLMCPR) CHANGES

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1 AFFIDAVIT AND BASIS FOR WITHHOLDING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN LCR

.H97-05 FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE 1

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• Att:chment 1 l

l Affidavit

l. I, Ralph J. Reda, being duly sworn, depose and state as follows:

I (1) I am Manager, Fuels and Facility Licensing, General Electric Company ("GE") and have been -

! delegated the functic>n of reviewing the information described in paragraph (2) which is sought to be withheld, and have been authorized to apply for its withholding.

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-(2) The information sought to be withheld is ' contained in the attachments to the letter numbered LR-N97433, LCR H97-05, Public Service Electric & Gas Company to The United States '

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Request for Change to Technical Specifications (Supplement),

Safety Limit Minimum CriticalPower Ratio (SIhfCPR), Hope Creek Generating Station, Facility Operating License NPF-5_7, Docket No. 50354.

(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) 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 informatiori," and some portions also qualify under the narrower definition of" trade secret,"

l

_ within the meanings assigned to those terms for purposes of FOIA Exemption 4 in, respectively, Critical Mass Energy Project v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 975F2d871 (DC Cir.1992),

! and Public Citizen Health Research Groun v. FDA,704F2dl280 (DC Cir.1983).

, (4) Some examples of categories of information which fit into the definition of proprietary l information are:

l

, a. Information that discloses a pacess, method, or apparatus, including supporting data l and analyses, where prevention of its use by General Electric's competitors without licena from General Electric constitutes a competitive economic advantage over other companies;

b. Information which, if used by a competitor, would reduce his expenditure of resources

- or impros e 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 j levels, or commercial strategies of General Electric, its customers, or its suppliers;

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

General Electric;

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

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

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• Att chm:nt

. l i l i I (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

• ( 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, consistently been held in confidence by i GE, no public disclosure has been made, and it is not available in public sources. All disclosures 1 r ' to third parties including any required transmittals to NRC, have been made, or must be made, j pursuant to regulatory provisions or proprietary agreements which provide for maintenance of the information in confidence.

(6) Initial approval of proprietary treatment of a document is made by the manager of the

. originating' component, the person most likely to be acquainted with the value and sensitivity of the information in relation to industry knowledge. Access to such documents within GE is limited on a "need to know" basis.

I (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 i I

manager of the cognizant marketing function (or his delegate), and by the Legal Operation, for I i technical content, competitive effect, and determination of the accuracy of the proprietary i

.. 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 l agreements. 1 (8) The information identified in paragrapS (2) is classified as proprietary because it would provide other parties, including competitors, with information related to detailed results of analytical  !

models, methods and processes, including computer codes, which GE has deseloped, requested NRC approval of, and applied to perform evaluations of the BWR. The development of the evaluation process along with the interpretation and application of the analytical results 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 opportunities. The fuel design and analytical methodology are part of GE's comprehensive BWR safety and technology base, and their commercial value extends beyond the original development cost. The value of 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 done with NP.C-approved methods.

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

- The precise value of the expertise to devise an evaluation process and apply the correct analytical methodology is difficult to quantify, but it clearly is substantial.

GE's competitive advantage will be lost if its 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 or similar conclusions.

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I Att: chm:nt

' 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 i undertake a similar expenditure of resources would unfairly provide competitors with a 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 -)

33 County of New Hanover ) 1 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 the best of his knowledge, information, and belief.

Executed at Wilmington, North Carolina, this 7 day of July,1997.

O ,/' 4 5 / NOTARY Apip$.Reda 3 i ~ * ~ Genesi Electric Company j g., PUBLIC j p 5  ;

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, ton s a , noo "

Subscribed and sworn before me this 7 day of July,1997.

My commission expires on )J ,.f4 f r7

. Notary Public, State of North Carolina Page3

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ATTACHMENT 3 LR-N97433 HOPE CREEK GENERATING STATION FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NPF-57 DOCKET NO. 50-354 SAFETY LIMIT MINIMUM CRITICAL POWER RATIO (SLMCPR) CHANGES J'

4 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION PAGES WITH PROPOSED' CHANGES

The following Technical Specifications for Facility Operating

' License No. NPF-57 are affected by this change request:

Technical Specification Page 3 -2.1.2 2-1 Bases 2.0 B 2-1 3.4.1.1 3/4 4-1 I

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