ML24172A061

GNF-A Comments on Buildings as IROFS - Meeting Slides

ML24172A061
Person / Time
Site:	07001113
Issue date:	06/20/2024
From:	Murray S Global Nuclear Fuel
To:	James Downs Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Document Control Desk
Shared Package
ML24172A060	List: ML24172A061
References
M240115
Download: ML24172A061 (3)

Text

Global Nuclear Fuel Scott P. Murray GNii= Manager, Facility Licensing Global Nuclear Fuel 3901 Castle Hayne Road P.O. Box 780 Proprietary Information Notice: This letter forwards Wilmington, NC 28402 proprietary Information which is to be withheld from public USA disclosure in accordance with 10CFR2.390. Upon removal of T (910) 819-5950 Attachment 2, the balance of this letter can be made public. scott.murray@ge.com

M240115

June 20, 2024

James Downs, Project Manager Fuel Facility Licensing Branch Division of Fuel Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 Attn: Document Control Desk

Subject:

GNF-A Comments on Buildings as IROFS - Meeting Slides

References:

1) NRC License SNM-1097, Docket 70-1113

2) NRC Meeting Announcement-Fuel Facility Structures as Items Re lied on for Safety, published 6/14/24, ML24166A217

Dear Mr. Downs:

Attached to this letter are Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas (GNF-A) meeting slides to be presented during the closed portion of the meeting with NRC on June 27, 2024 (Reference 2).

This information is being provided for NRC staff review prior to the meeting.

Please note that these slides contain GNF-A proprietary information to be withheld from public disclosure.

If you have any questions concerning this information, please call me at (910) 819-5950.

Sincerely,

/C:u,:::tA P.

Scott P. Murray, Mana ger Facility Licensing

Attachments: 1) GNF-A Affidavit

2) GNF-A Comments on Bui ldings as IROFS (Contains proprietary information)

Cc: SPM 24-034 USNRC M240115 6/20/24

Attachment 1

Globa l Nuclear Fue l - Am ericas LL C AFFIDAVIT

I, Scott P. Murray, state as follows :

( l) I am the Manager, Facility Licensing of Global Nuclear Fuel - Americas, LLC (GNF-A), and have been delegated the function by GNF-A of reviewing the information 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 Attachment 2 to GNF-A ' s letter, M240115, Scott P.

Murray to James Downs, NRC Fuel Facility Licensing Branch, entitled GNF-A Comments on Buildings as IROFS - Meeting Slides. GNF-A proprietary information in Attachment 2 is identified by the statement "GNF A Proprietary Information - Withhold from Public Disclosure Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.390".

(3) In making this application for withholding of propr ietary information of which it is the owner or licensee, GNF A 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. l 7(a)(4), and 2.390(a)(4) for trade secrets (Exemption 4). The material for which exemption from disclosure is here sought also qualifies under the narrower definition of trade secret, within the meanings assigned to those terms for purposes of FOIA Exemption 4 in, respectively, Critical Mass Energy Project v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 975 F2d 871 (DC Cir. 1992), and Public Citizen Health Research Group v. FDA, 704 F2d 1280 (DC Cir. 1983).

(4) The information sought to be withheld is considered to be proprietary for the reasons set forth in paragraphs

( 4)a. and ( 4)b. Some examples of categories of information that 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 GNF-A's competitors without license from GNF-A constitutes a competitive economic advantage over GNF-A and /or other companies.

b. Information that, if used by a competitor, would reduce their expenditure of resources or improve their competitive position in the design, manufacture, shipment, installation, assurance of quality, or licensing of a similar product.

(5) To address 10 CFR 2.390(b)(4), the information sought to be withheld is being submitted to the NRC in confidence. The information is of a sort customarily held in confidence by GNF-A, and is in fact so held. The information sought to be withheld has, to the best of my knowledge and belief, consistently been held in confidence by GNF-A, not been disclosed publicly, and not been made available in public sources. All disclosures to third parties, including an y required transmittals to the NRC, have been made, or must be made, pursuant to regulatory provisions or proprietary and/or confidentiality agreements that provide for maintaining the information in confidence. The initial designation of this information as proprietary information and the subsequent steps taken to prevent its unauthorized disclosure are as set forth in the following paragraphs (6) and (7).

(6) Initial approval of proprietary treatment of a document is made by the manager of the originating component, who is the person most likely to be acquainted with the value and sensitivity of the information in relation to industry knowledge, or who is the person most likely to be subject to the terms under which it was licensed to GNF-A.

(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 for technical content, competitive effect, and determination of the accuracy of the proprietary designation. Disclosures outside GNF-A are limited to USNRC M240115 6/20/24

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 and/or confidentiality agreements.

(8) The information identified in paragraph (2) above is classified as proprietary because it contains details ofGNF-A ' s processes, design and manufacturing facilities.

(9) Public disclosure of the information sought to be withheld is likely to cause substantial harm to GNF-A's competitive position and foreclose or reduce the availability of profit-making opportunities. The facility design and licensing methodology is part of GNF-A's comprehensive 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 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 NRC-approved methods.

The research, development, engineering, analytical and NRC review costs comprise a substantial investment of time and money by GNF-A. 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. GNF-A's competitive advantage will be lost if its competitors are able to use the results of the GNF-A 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 GNF-A 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 GNF-A of the opportunity to exercise its competitive advantage to seek an adequate return on its large investment in developing and obtaining these very valuable analytical tools.

1 declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed on this 20th day of June 2024.

ST A TE OF NORTH CAROLINA )

)

COUNTY OF NEW HANOVER )

Subscribed and sworn to me, a Notary Public, in and for the State of North Carolina, this 20th day of J une 2024.

Krystle Wohrman otary Public in and for the NOTARY PUBLIC State of North Carolina My Commission Expires New Hanover County, NC June 13, 2028

My Commission Expires : _____ J..;::;u""n""e..al""3.,_, 2_0_2=8'----- - -