ML20062C656

Affidavit Requesting Withholding of Summary Rept on Evaluation of Recirculation Nozzle to Safe End Weld Indication & Proposed Disposition to Permit Unit 1 Cycle 4 Operation, from Public Disclosure,Per 10CFR2.790

ML20062C656
Person / Time
Site:	Limerick
Issue date:	10/22/1990
From:	Recasha Mitchell GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.
To:
Shared Package
ML19310C797	List: ML20062C654 ML20062C656
References
NUDOCS 9011020036
Download: ML20062C656 (3)

Text

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ENCLOSURE General Electric Company AFFIDAVIT-  ;

I, Robert C. Mitchell, being duly sworn, depose and state as follows:

1. I am Manager, Product Licensing, General Electric Company, and have been delegated the  ;

function of reviewing the information described in paragraph 2 which is sought to be with-

• held and have been authorized to apply for its withholding. -

2. The information sought to be withheld is the Attachment to the letter, Summary Report of the Evaluation of the Recirculation Nozzle to Safe End Weld Indication and Proposed Disposition to Permit Unit 1 Cycle 4 Operation, from G.A. Hunger, Jr, Manager Licensing Services, Philadelphia Electric Company, to US NRC, dated October 23,1990, Docket No.

50 352, Licence ho. NPF 39. This attachment contains information on IOSCC crack growth data derived from CAV systems.

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3. In designating material as proprietary, General Electric utilizes the definition of proprietary information and trade secrets set forth in the American Law. institute's Restatement of- ,

Torts, Section 757. This definition provides:

"A trade secret may consist of any formula, pattern, device or compilation of infor-mation which is used in one's business and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it.... A substantial element of secrecy must exist, so that, except by the use of improper means, there' ,

.would be difficulty in acquiring information.... Some factors to be considered in- '

determining whether given information is one's trade secret are: (1) the extent to which the information is known outside of his business; (2) the extent to which it is known by employees and others involved in his business; (3) the extent of mea-sures taken by him to guard the secrecy of the information; (4) the value of the inc <

formation to him and to his competitors;(5) the amount of effort or money ex-

panded by him in developing the information; (6) the ease or difficulty with the l

which the information could be properly acquired or duplicated by others." ,

4, Some examples of categories of information which fit into the definition of proprietary infor-mation are:

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a. Information that disclosed a process, method or apparatus where prevention of its use by General Electric's competitors without license from General Electric constitutes a

-l competitive economic advantage over other companies;

b. Information consisting of supporting data and analyses, including test data, relative to a process, method or apparatus, the application of which provide a competitive economic advantage, e.g., by optimization or improved marketability;

c. Information which if used by a compether, would reduce his expenditure of resources or-improve his competitive position in the design, manufacture, shipment, installation, as- 3 surance of quality or licensing of a similar product; l

d. Information which reveals cost or price information, production ca 3acities, budget levels or commercial strategies of General Electric, its customers or supp iers;- l 9011020036 901023 PDR ADOCK 05000352 P PDC

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e. Information*which reveals aspects of past, present or future General Electric cus-  !

tomer funded development plans and programs of potential commercial value to Gen-eral Electric:

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

g. Information which General Electric must treat as proprietary according to agreements with other partit s.

5. In addition to proprietary treatment given to material meeting the standards enumerated i above, General Electric customarily maintains in confidence preliminary and draft material- j which has not been subject to complete proprietary, technical and editorial review. This prac-tice is based on the fact that draft documents often do not appropriately reflect all aspects of ,

a problem, may contain tentative conclusions and may contam errors that can be corrected i during normal review and approval procedures. Also, until the final document is complete it may not be possible to make any definitive determination as to its proprietary nature. Gen- 1 eral Electric is not generally willing to release such a document in such a preliminary form.

Such documents are, however, on occasion furnished to the NRC staff on a confidential basis because it is General Electric's belief that it is in the public interest for the statf to be  !

promptly furnished with significant or potentially significant information. Furnishing the document on a confidential basis pending completion of General Electric's internal review permits early acquaintance of the staff with the information while protecting General Elec-tric's potential proprietary position and permitting General Electric to insure the public doc-uments are technically accurate and correct.

6. Initial approval of proprietary treatment of a document is typically made by the Subsection manager of the originating component, who is most likely to be acquainted with-the value 1 and sensitivity of the information in relation to industry knowledge.'-Access to such docu- -

ments within the Company is limited on a "need to know" basis and such documents are clearly identified as proprietary.

7. The procedure fo: approval of external release of such a document typically requires review I by the Subsection Manager, Project manager, Principal Scientist or other equivalent author-ity, by the Subsection Manager of the cognizant Marketing function (or delegate) and by the -

Legal Operation for technical content, competitive effect and determination of the accuracy ,

of the proprietary designation in accordance with the standards enumerated above. Disclo-  !

sures outside General Electric are generally limited to regulatory bodies, customers and po-tential customers and their agents, suppliers and licensees then only with appropriate protec-tion by applicable regulatory provisions or proprietary agreements. >

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8. The document mentioned in paragraph 2 above has been evaluated in accordance with-the --

above criteria and procedures and has been found to contain information which is propri-etary and which is customarily held in confidence by General Electric.

9. The information to the best of my knowledge and belief has consistently been held in confi-dence by the General Electric Company, no public disclosure has been made, and it is not-available in public sources. All disclosures to third parties have been made pursuant to regu- 1 latory provisions of proprietary agreements which provide for maintenance of the informa- j tion in confidence.  ;

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Affidavit Page 2 -

10. Public disclosure of the information, as called out in paragraph 2, sought to be withheld is likely to cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the General Electric Company and deprive or reduce the availability of profit making opportunities because it contams details of General Electric design, CAV Systems, which are not available to other parties without prior proprietary apeement.This information would provide other parties, including competitors, with valuable mformation associated with technical and business practices of the General Electric Company. This information is of a type customarily held in confidence by General Electric since it reveals valuable design information obtained at considerable expense to the General Electric Company, STATE OF CALIFORNIA )

COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA ) ss:

Robert C. Mitchell, 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 San Jose, California, this 22 day of Ocfoo e a.1990.

M C'. N C h 010 Robert C. Mitchell Gener 1 Electric Company Subscribed and sworn before me this Mday of bhtt" 1990.

a PAULA F. HUSSEY fJOlfM PUhlC

• CAUFO.UHA g-s QT QQSg SANTA CLARA C0uNTY ' b,-

k i}

Notary Public -_ California .

Santa Clara County Afndavit Page 3