I imagine that the data center is self contained like a nuclear sub and can last a long time without refueling.
The sub, yes. The crew, not so much.
It can likely power itself for some time but if Utah cuts off the water it uses to cool the server farms they will not be able to operate. Article says the use 1.7 millions gallons of water per day and thats a lot of water trucks if Utah turns off the spigot.
A commercial Data Center probably has 72 hours of diesel on site, being the NSA they probably store several weeks or more.
However, a data center of this size uses chilled water, and lots of it, to cool the servers and related equipment. They need a constant supply to keep operating. Killing the water will shut down the cooling and the DC.
The water is used to cool the servers. They can maybe last a week on backup cooling systems.
-—not exactly like a nukesub. They need external water, power, and fiber optic phone line access, all of which can be controlled by the State. Even drilling for water on their own property is still controlled by the state, particularly in the western states. And the state highway patrol could control access-—just to get bitchy about it.
“I imagine that the data center is self contained like a nuclear sub and can last a long time without refueling.”
Well then, they had better have a big holding tank, because unlike a sub, they won’t be able to “jettison” their crap!
Mormons are good at “shunning non-believers or those who have sinned,” maybe they should make those who work at the data center the moral equivalent of “apostates,” and make their lives in Utah untenable.