ML20198N855

Authorizes Utilization of Accompanying Affidavit by NSP Re LAR Re Movable Incore Detector Thimble Reduction for Prairie Island Unit 1,cycle 19

ML20198N855
Person / Time
Site:	Prairie Island
Issue date:	01/14/1998
From:	Sepp H WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY, DIV OF CBS CORP.
To:	Collins S NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned), NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
Shared Package
ML20070L182	List: ML20198N814 ML20198N824 ML20198N830 ML20198N840 ML20198N855
References
CAW-98-1196, NUDOCS 9801210234
Download: ML20198N855 (8)

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Pittstt#Eh Pennsylvania 15230-0355

' Electric Corporation January 14, 1998 CAW-98 ll%

Document Contro' Oesk US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555 Attention:' Samuel J Collins, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation APPLICATION FOR WITlillOLDING PROPRIETARY INFORM ATION FROh! PUBLIC DISCLOSURE Scoject: "Licer.se Amendment Request, Movable Incore Detector Thimble Reduction for Prairie .

Island Unit 1 Cycle 19," (Proprit.tary), January 1998.

Dear Mr. Collins:

The proprietary information for which withholding is being requested in the above-referenced letter is further identified in Affidavit CAW-98-1196 signed by the owner of the proprietary information, Westinghouse Electric Company, a division of CBS Corporation (" Westinghouse"). The affidavit, which accompanies this letter, sets forth- the basis on which the information may be withheld from Alic

- disclosure by the Commission and addresses with specificity the considerations listed in paragraph t hg4) of 10 CFR Section 2.790 of the Commission's regulations.

Accordingly, this letter authorized the utilization of the accompanying Aflidavit by Northern States Power Company, Correspondence with respect to the proprietary aspects of the application for withholding or the Westinghouse affidavit should reference this letter, CAW-98-ll%, and should be addressed to the undersigned; Very truly yours.

Ilenty A. Sepp, Manager Regulatory and Licensing Engineering Enclosures

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.cc: Kevin Bohrer / NRC (12H5) -

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- Proprietary Infonnation Notice Transmitted herewith are proprietary and non proprietary versions of documents furnished to the NRC. .

in order to conform to the requirements of 10 CFR 2.790 of the Commission's regulations concerning

- the protection of proprietary information so submitted to the NRC, the information which is proprietary in the proprietary versions is contained within brackets, and where the proprietary information has been deleted in the non-proprietary versions, only the brackets remain (the information that was contained within the brackets in the proprietary versions having been deleted). The justification for claiming the information so designated as proprietary is indicated in both versions by means of lower case letters (a) through (f) located as a superscript immediately following the' brackets enclosing each item of information being identified as proprietary or in the margin opposite och infonnation. These lower case letters refer to the types of information Westinghouse customarily holds in confidence identified in Sections (4)(ii)(a) through (4)(ii)(f) of the affidavit accompanying this transmittal pursuant to 10 CFR 2.790(b)(1).

_ _ _ - - _ _ _ _ - - _ _ _ _ - - _ - _ - _ _ _____ . _ . _ _ _ ~

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Copyright Notice The documents transmitted herewith each bear a Westinghouse copyright notice. The NRC is permitted to make the number of ccpies for the information contained in these reports which are necessary for its

. internal use in connection with generic and plant-specific reviews and approvals as well as the issuance, denial, amendment, transfer, renewal, modification, suspension, revocation, or violation of a license, permit, order, or regulation subject to the requirements of 10 CFR 2.790 regarding restrictions on public disclosure to tt'e extent such information las been identified as proprietary by Westinghouse, copyright protection not withstanding. With respect to the non proprietary versions of these reports, the NRC is permitted to make the number of copies beyond these necessary for its internal use which are necessary ,

in order to have one copy available for public viewing in the appropriate docket files in the public document room in Washington, DC and in local public document rooms as may be required by NRC regulations if the number of copies submitted is insufhcient for this purpose, Copies made by the NRC must include the copyright notice in all instances and the proprietary notice if the original was identified as proprietary.

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. AFFIDAVIT

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COMMONWEALTil OF PENNSYLVANIA: t ss

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COUNTY OF ALLEGIIENY:

Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared 11enry A. Sepp, who, being by me duly-

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- sworn according to law,~ deposes and says that he is authorized to execute this Affidavit on behalf of Westinghouse Electric Company, a division of CBS Corporation (" Westinghouse") and that the averments of fact set forth in this Affidavit are true and correct to the best of his knowledge, information, and belief:

/ / / /\

llenry A. Sepp, Manager Regulatory and Licensing Engineering

- Sworn to and subscribed -

befo me this day of _ .

, ,1998.

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1. CAW-98-il%

(1) I am Manager, Regulatory and Licensing Engineering, in the Nuclear Services Division, of the Westinghouse Electric Company, a division of CBS Corporation (" Westinghouse") and as such, I have been specifically delegated the function of reviewing the proprietary information sought to be withheld from public disclosure in connection with nuclear power plam licensing and rulemaking proceedings, and am authorized to apply for its withholding on behalf of the Westinghouse Energy Systems Business Units.

(2) I am making this Af0 davit in conformance with the provisions of 10 CFR Section 2.790 of the Commission's regulations and in conjunction with the Westinghouse application for withholding accompanying this Affidavit.

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

(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 information sought to be withheld from public disclosure should oe withheld.

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

(ii) The information 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 infonnation customarily held in confidence by it and, in that connection, utilizes a system to determine when and whether 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 r: quired.

Under that system, information is held 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 competitive 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 constitutes a competitive economic advantage over other companies.

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

(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 capacities, budget leve!s, or commercial strategies of Westinghouse, its customers or suppliers.

(e) It reveals aspects of past, present, or future Westinghouse or customer fundad development plans and programs of potential commercial value to Westinghouse.

(f) It contains patentable ideas, for which patent protection may be desirable. y There are sound policy reasons behind the Westinghouse system which include the following:

(a) The use of such infom1ation by Westinghouse gives Wr,tinghouse a competitive advantage over its competitors. It is, therefore, withheld from disclosure to protect the Westinghouse competitive position.

b) It is information which is marketable in many ways. The extent to which such information is available to competitors diminishes the Westinghouse ability to sell t 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 to a particular competitive advantage is potentially as valuable as the total competitive advantage if competitors acquire components of proprietary information, 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 of those countries.

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

(iii) The information is being transmitted to the Commission in confidence and, under the provisions of 10 CFR Section 2.7')0, it is to be received in confidence by the Commission.

(iv) The information sought to be protected is not available in public sources or available information has not been previously employed in the same original manner or method 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 " License Amendment Request, Movable incore Detector Thimble Reduction for Prairie Island Unit 1 Cycle 19,* (Proprietary), January 1998, for information in support of Northern States Power Company letter and Application for Withholding Proprietary Information from Public Disclosure, llenry A. Sepp, Westitighouse, Manager Regulatory and Licensing Engineering to the attention of Samuel J. Collins, Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. The proprietary information as submitted is technical evaluations given to the NRC on behalf of Northern States Power Company for the Prairie Island Unit 1 Cycle 19 operations.

This information is part of that which will enable Westinghouse to:

(a) Provide the NRC with technical evaluations on the proposed reduction in the number of available movable detector thimbles required for Prairie Island Unit I Cycle 19 operations.

(b) Assist its customers to obtain licenses.

(c) Optimize reactor design and performance while maintaining a high level of fuel integrity.

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5- CAW 9ft 1"Xi Further this information has substantial commercial value as folhws:

(a) Westinghouse plans to sell the use of similar technical evaluations to its customers for tbc purpose ofjustifying reduction in the number of available raab e detector thimbles required.

(b) Westinghouse can sell support and defense of the product to its customers in the licensing process.

Public disclosure of this proprietary informatica is likely to causc substantial harm to the competitive position of Westinghouse because it would enhance the ability of competitors to provide similar technical evaluation justifications and licensing defense services for commercial power reactors without commensurate expenses. Also, public disclosure of the information would enable o'hers to use the information to meet NRC requirements for licensing documentation without purchasing the right to use the information.

The development of the technology described in part by the information is the result of applying the results of many years of experience in an intensive Westinghouse effort and the expenditure of a considerable sum of money, in order for competitors of Westinghouse to duplicate this informatmn, similar technical programs would have to be performed and a significant manpower effort, having the requisite talent and experience, would have to be expended for developing the enclosed improved core thermal performance methodology.

Further the dep;nent sayeth not.}