NARORA: An Incredible place with the most sacred river worshipped as Goddess Ganga maiya ,a prominent Ramsar site abundant with rich diversity of birds/animals & Narora Atomic Power Station feeding the Northern Grid

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NARORA is indeed an incredible destination with diverse avenues of interest. Its an important Pilgrimage centre where lakhs of devotees have a dip in the holy Ganges in various ghats on the occasion of fairs and festivals organised all over the year. The Ganges water is extremely important to Indian Hindu population for religious reasons besides providing water for drinking as well as irrigation purposes (through Lower Ganga Canal & Parallel Lower Ganga Canal emanating from the Narora Barrage).Its considered as the most sacred river & is worshipped as Goddess Ganga Mata owing to peoples’ strong faith. There are numerous parks for recreation of children and is a beautiful picnic spot near the Narora Barrage. Due to its fairly high dissolved Oxygen level in Ganges water ,it has reasonable self purifying capabilities. However nutrient heads containing Nitrogen and Phosphorous have increased in recent years but water is fairly potable having reasonable TDS. Apart from the holy Ganges Ghats there are other religious sites such as Narwar Vidyalay ,Rajghat Narora, Ramghat, Karanvas, Anupshahr,etc.The place is renowned for the Nuclear Power Station having 2 units of 2×220=440 MW capacity(operated by the NPCIL) contributing to the Northern grid. Narora is a prominent Ramsar site declared in the yr. 2005 having a diverse variety of birds and animals. It has good connectivity by road as well as railways with major cities of UP, Raj., Haryana as well as with the national capital ,Delhi.

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About NARORA :Its a small town located on the banks of holy river Ganga in the Bulandshahr distt. of UP,India. Apart from the holy river flowing through it there are many Ghats having a dip in the Ganges & temples for offering prayers. Located at 5km from Narora are two Units of nuclear power plants with a capacity of 2×220=440MW of PHWR type. The Unit-1 commenced commercial operation on 1/1/1991 and Unit-2 commenced commercial operation on 1/7/1992.As per 2011 sensus-population=20376.(male-54%,female-46%)Average literacy is 58.1%(male-65%,female-49%)lower than the natural average of 59.5%.EDUCATION:There are some good educational institutions for children:-1)Raghuneel blooming buds school,2)Sriram Public school,3)AECS(NAPS),Narora ,4)Narora Public school,5)Irrigation Inter college,Kalkatti,6)Narvar Vidyalaya,7)Irrigation public school,8)Govt. Junior high school,Naudeyi.9)Govt. Primary school.

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ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED BY NAPS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: The recent Climate conference in Paris finding Nuclear Energy the best way to deal with the dangerous climate changes .A survey by NAPS in and around Narora shows that rich diversity of birds, reptiles and dolphins can safely exist around a nuclear power station. A 3-day seminar was conducted from 10/12/15 to monitor the nature of environment and nuclear power station and to help ensure the wild life. As part of Environment & Stewardship Program (ESP) of NAPS finding species of bird with total of 5306 birds, 6 species of turtles plus 18 endangered Gangetic river Dolphins and Ghadiyals. NAPS has been carrying out scientific studies on birds,mammals and reptiles. The wetlands of 265 square kms of upper Ganga from Brijghat to Narora barrage stretch were declared Ramsar site in 2005. NAPS organised an Annual Bird Marathon – a one day event that generates a database of the birds in the region. NAPS has also established turtle breeding facility here.

About Narora Atomic Power Plant(NAPS 1&2)2×220 MW capacity. Located in the small town of Narora(Bulandshahr),the NAPS serves the Northern Grid. NAPS unit-1 began commercial operation in Jan 91 and Unit-2 in July 92 contributing handsomely to the National Power Grid of India. On 31/5/93, a major fire occured in NAPS-1 when two steam blades failed in the last stage of the LP Turbine which resulted in severe imbalance in TG leading to rupturing of Hydrogen seal and Lubeoil lines leading to fire.The operating crew acted efficiently and shut down the reactor by manual actuation of the PSD within the failure of turbine . Thanks to the NAPS team who worked persistently to avert the extreme casualty. Although the NAPS 1 was fully rehabilitated after the fire, a second incident hit the Unit-2 in September 1999 when the Air-Locking door malfunctioned. The unit was immediately shutdown for one month to carry out the needed repairs. Also a major Tritium leak occurred around this time by December 1999, the facilities had been inspected by BIS and its environment management system had to be certified. The certification was followed by the voluntary opening of NAPS to WANO peer review in year 2000. Later, NAPS became the first ISO-14001 certified Atomic Power Station in Asia and also received the Golden Peacock Award from the World Environment Foundation for its efforts in environment preservation.

UNIT-1 (2019-20) Availability factor-100%,Generation=35802MUs,Capacity factor-97%(Oct-2020)

UNIT-2(2019-20) Availability factor-100%,Generation=35564MUs,Capacity factor-94%(Oct-2020)

Achievements – 25/8/2020: NAPS-2(Its an indigenous PHWR which became operational in July 1992) became the fourth Indian reactor to achieve milestone of 731 days of continuous operation after Kaiga station 1 (962 days). RAPS-3 =777 days and RAPS-5 =765 days continuous safe operation.

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N. P. C. I. L : Its a public sector enterprise under the administrative control of the DAE, Govt of India. Registered in Sept.1987 for operating the NPPs and constructing new power for generation of Electricity under the AEA 1962.It has equity participation in Bhavini ,another PSU of DAE which implements FBRs programs in India. Presently operating 22 Commercial reactors with installed capacity of 6780MW,two BWRs & 18 PHWRs and 2VVER Reactors-KKNPS-1&2 at Kudankulam.1x100MW PHWR(RAPS-1) is in decommissioned state owned by DAE. Currently there are 8 Reactors under different stages of construction of total 6200MW Mission of NPCIL :To develop NP Technology and to produce Nuclear power as a safe environmentally benign and economically viable source of electrical energy to meet the increasing demand of electricity requirement of the country.

ABBREVATIONS USED: PHWR-Pressurised Heavy water Reactor, BWR-Boiling Water Reactor, LWR-Light water Reactor, BHAVINI-Bhartiya Nabhikiya Vidhyut Nigam, VVER-Voda Voda Energo Reactor, KKNPS-Kudamkulan Nuclear Power Station, UC-Under construction ,CO-under Commercial Operation. RAPP-Rajasthan Atomic Power Project, NPCIL-Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. AERB-Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, IAEA-International Atomic Energy Agency, AECS-Atomic Energy central School, RPS-Rana Pratap Sagar. RB-Rawatbhata, NP -Nuclear power. WANO-World Association of Nuclear Operators.

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PLACES WORTH VISITING AROUND NARORA:

1) RAJGHAT NARORA, a gram panchayat Rajghat is situated in Rajghat banger village in Debai Tehsil of Bulandshahar district at a distance of 12 KM from Dibai .Narora town is 5KM away located on the banks of Ganga, there are several temples mainly lord Hanuman with a 40 ft high statue. Rajghat Narora Rly Station has connectivity with Agra, Bareilly, Aligarh, Kanpur, Allahabad, Dehradun, Rishikesh etc.

2) KARANVAS – It is 12 KM away from Narora. As the legend has it, in the time of Mahabharata this was place of great king karna who used to donate 50KG of gold everyday. Here is located the famous temple of Kalyani. AHAR -On the bank of river Ganga is situated the temple of golden Avantika & lord Shiva.

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3)ANUPSHAHAR – It is also know as chhoti kashi. It is a city and a municipal board in bulandshahar district. It is near holy river ganda on the bangar alluvial. AS per the ancient history, founder of anupshahar was the bargujar clawn of rajghat . Anuprai who founded anupshahar between 1605 and 1628 during the regime of Moghul jahangir king anup also built fort.

4)DIBAI – Its a town and a municipal board under bulandshara district. Its a tehsil and constituency of LA in UP. As per census 2011, population 39902. It is divided in 25wards, 47 villages. Dibai dehat is gram panchayat of Dibai village

5)BULANDSHAHR – It is a city and municipal board and is administative HQ Bulandshahar district of UP. The city is a part of Delhi NCR. History of bulandhshar dates back to older than 1200 BC. The region is near to the capital of Pandavas. With time king Parma made a fort in this region and king named Abhibaran laid the foundation of a tower called Baran which was translated to …languages as Bulandshahar. It is an important grain producing agricultural district – Wheat, Potatoes, Maize and sugar are the main produce.

6) KHURJA – is 17 KM from Bulandshahar on GT road towards ALigarh known as the pottery town – producing beautiful decorative pieces, cup plates, bowls etc.

7) BADAUN – Its is a holy place in the rohilkhand division of united province. as per professor Goti JOhn this city was named BEdamooth-is an ancient inscription on stone which is now in lucknow museam. In this period it was called panchal. s per the stone writings there was a vilage Bhadaulak near it. Muslim historian Mr Rozkhan Lodhi said that king Ashoka built a budhvihar and quila and he named it Budhaman, It is located near holy river ganga. its 235 KM from Delhi. Religion Both Hindu and muslim.Important places – 1. Gauri shankar mandir 2. Jama Masjid. As per mythological stories, Badaun was named after Ahir prince Budh and was founded in 905 AD. Rathore kings ruled at Badaun in 12th century. Kutubuddin captured it in 1196

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8)ATRAULI: Its a city & muncipal board in Aligarh distt. about 25 km from it & 20km from Narora.

9)ALIGARH: Its 60km from Narora .Recorded history of Aligarh begins with the establishment of the Aligarh fort in 16th century .It has a renowned University, AMU which was founded here as Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College in 1875 initiating the Aligarh movement .Before 18th century Aligarh was known as Kol .The history before the 12th century is obscure .Before the Muslim conquest, Kol was held by the Dor Rajputs. At the time of Mahmud of Ghazni ,the chief of Dor was Hardutta of Baran.In 1194,Qutubuddin Aibak appointed Hisam-ud-din Ulbakas the first Muslim Governor of Kol. Battle of Aligarh was fought in Sept.1803 during second Anglo Maratha war(1803-1805)at Aligarh fort and established British rule.The British besieged the fort and established British rule. In 1804 Aligarh district was formed with Claude Russel as the first collector of the district.

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10)NARWAR VIDYALAY: SHRI SANGVED MAHAVIDYALAYA, Narwar ,Narora, established in the yr 1903,affiliated college in 1923,University-Sampurnanand Vishwavidyalaya ,Varanasi,State Public Univ.,private-aided,autonomous,Area=4.81 Acres, Discipline-Sanskrit, Courses-Regular , Undergraduate Program-Shastri-Shastri,Post graduate program-Acharya. Its located near bank of Ganges-Narvar Ghat.

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11)BELON MATA MANDIR: About 5km from Narora is the renowned temple of Belon Mata where hundreds of devotees pay their prayers to the mata everyday.

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MY NARORA CONNECTION :My father served the Gandhisagar Hydel Project, MP from 1958 to 1961 before shifting to Rana Pratap Sagar, Rawatbhata for the RPS Dam project. I was only two yrs old then. After that he was appointed in RAPP in 1963 for the civil survey work. I took admission in the RAPP- AECS and passed the All India Hr. Sec exam-1975(CBSE) from AECS-3 School! Thus I spent my entire childhood at RB. Meanwhile my father got transferred to NAPP, Narora for the Narora Project construction work and I completed my further education in UP. In Sept.1980,I joined GAMMON INDIA LTD. as an Electrical Engineer for the construction work of 2Nos. ND Cooling Towers at NAPP Site, Narora where I served upto Aug.1981. Thereafter like a dream coming true, I got appointed as an Electrical Maintenance Trainee and joined RAPS, Rawatbhata in Sept.1981 to reunite again with the place of my dreams/childhood days. Served RAPS, Rawatbhata for four yrs before I was transferred to NAPP for the Commissioning work of NAPS-1&2 in Nov.1985. I served NAPS -1&2 for 14 yrs before I was deputed for the work of Uranium Exploration and Research and joined AMDER/WR at Jaipur in Nov.1999. I have retired from AMD in Jan.2019 as Scientific Officer-E after putting up over 38 yrs service in DAE/Govt.of India. That was indeed a very fruitful period of my entire life memories of which I will cherish throughout my remaining life.

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MY READERS MAY PL. NOTE:I am indebted to Wikipedia & my NAPS service tenure for the required information for the blog & request my readers to inform me on this site for required correction, if any! Thanks and Happy Reading!