Two years ago, when I first heard about the mega-data center project next to the Kalinin NPP, many questions immediately arose, the first of which were who would go there and how long such a trip would take from Moscow or St. Petersburg. I have long wanted to visit the Concern's data center and soberly evaluate all the pros and cons of a mega data center located in the Tver region in Udomlya.
My interest was fueled by information about the scope of the project:
- – 10,3 ;
- – 36 756 2;
- – 30 ;
- – 80 ;
- - – 48 .
Such data centers have not yet been built in Russia, and by European standards it is quite impressive.
My first trip took place in a private car on the M11 "Neva" toll road. Comfortable speed - 110-130 km / h. With several stops, I covered 390 km in approximately 4.5 hours. When the northern bypass of Tver is completed (according to various sources, this will happen at the end of 2024), the flight time should be reduced by another hour.
Also, the data center can be reached by the high-speed Sapsan train from St. Petersburg and Moscow to Vyshny Volochek station in 2 hours 12 minutes and 1 hour 46 minutes, respectively. At the station, you will be met by a corporate machine of the data center, if, of course, you have warned about your visit in advance. Another 70 km (about an hour on the way) - and you are there.
Part I. Physical security
Having visited the Kalininsky data center for the first time, I tried to pay attention to all the details, not to miss anything. The words that when organizing the operation of the data center, the best practices of colleagues from the nuclear power plant were adopted, acquired clear outlines for me.
The data center is located in the NPP circuit and is part of a nuclear power plant, therefore it has all the necessary protection and safety means that correspond to such a high-security facility as a nuclear power plant.
But, as they say, the theater starts from the coat rack, and the data center starts from the checkpoint. Here they will check your identity and passport data by checking the application, which is issued from the organization. The check takes place quite quickly, and in a few minutes, accompanied by an engineer on duty, we walk through the territory of the Kalininsky data center.
Immediately behind the checkpoint there is a four-story administrative building, which houses all the data center services, a data center engineering infrastructure monitoring center, premises for the operation team and the work of customer personnel, a cafe-canteen, etc. If necessary, you will be promptly provided with network access to equipment. located in the data center.
The satellite town of the Kalinin NPP, Udomlya, has several hotels, restaurants and cafes. So everything is more than in order with the infrastructure.
Behind the administrative building, on the left, is the first stage of the Kalininsky data center, which consists of three buildings. Each building is eight modules designed to accommodate up to 200 racks with an average heat dissipation of 6 kW and the possibility of increasing to 20 kW. The cooling system was designed based on a capacity of 1 MW per control room. We will come back here, and I will tell you more about all the engineering systems of the data center.
To the right of the administrative building, we see the second stage - this is the first and somewhat unique site for placing container and modular data centers. On an area of 2 hectares with a prepared industrial and energy infrastructure, it is possible to place up to 30 KTsOD and MODC with a connection of up to 1 MW.
Part II. Energy security
On the opposite side of the central checkpoint there is a transformer substation with direct connection by two 110 kV lines. This is one of the key benefits of a data center. The installed capacity of the electrical substation is 80 MVA, all power supply is implemented according to the 2N scheme, that is, two transformers 80 MVA each, 110 transformers 10 kV. Each data center building has 16 transformers 10 x 0.4 kV. They are grouped into transformer substations and sectioned along the 0.4 kV side.
If one 110 kV transformer fails, the second transformer will take over the entire load. A similar circuit on the 10 kV side. Behind the transformer substations at the voltage level of 0.4 kV, dynamic diesel-rotary uninterruptible power supplies manufactured by Hitec are implemented according to the 2N scheme. In total, seven DDIBPs with a capacity of 1970 kVA each were installed in the Rosenergoatom section.
After the DDIBP there is a set of switchboards, from which switchboards for various purposes are powered, including those responsible for the IT load. If we talk about the control room, each row of racks and each rack separately are powered from two sides: two different buses, two different intermediate boards, two different main switchboards. And each side is able to provide all the load of the hall.
Each building has its own fuel storage with two tanks (the volume of one tank is 40 m3). Provided that all DDIBPs work at full capacity, the reserve is sufficient for operation during the day.
When powered by 110 kV, the advantage is that the Vostok substation, which provides power to the data center, belongs to the Kalinin NPP, like the data center substation. That is, everything is controlled in a single key, which eliminates switching errors.
Part III. Climatic safety
Six chillers from Stulz with a cooling capacity of 971.5 kW each are located on the roof of the building. Redundancy is organized by analogy with indoor units - according to the N + 1 scheme. All machines with free-cooling function, which significantly reduces energy consumption during the cold season.
Maintenance of refrigeration machines is carried out with the assistance of experienced specialists of the nuclear power plant, where cooling systems are one of the key ones.
All modules are equipped with 12 precision air conditioners, four of which are equipped with steam humidifiers, and the N + 1 redundancy scheme is implemented. Each module is supplied with two pipe rings: they allow you to put any air conditioner into service mode, without affecting the operation of the system as a whole. The heart of the cooling system is the cold center. All circulation pumps are located here, which circulate a 40% ethylene glycol solution between refrigerators and indoor units of air conditioners. Here, in the cold center, four tanks of 5 m3 each with a supply of cold coolant are installed to ensure the operation of the entire system at full load in the event of failure of all refrigerating machines.
Part IV. Fire safety
Four control rooms are equipped with one gas fire extinguishing room with two batteries (main and backup) with the extinguishing agent Freon 227ea. For rooms where gas fire extinguishing is also used, for example, for electrical and telecommunications, separate rooms are equipped and there are own batteries of cylinders.
An early fire detection system is installed in each control room: four aspiration sensors, two of which are located under the raised floor and two under the ceiling.
Part V. Operational safety
The operation of engineering and IT systems of the data center is provided by a 24-hour shift at Kalinin NPP, technical support for customers and communication channels is provided by CONSIST-OS JSC, a subsidiary of Rosenergoatom concern, which has an ISO 9000 certificate. Energy, cold, IT - all systems data centers are monitored around the clock.
The team is not only involved in the operation of the infrastructure of the data center, but also provides a service of remote workers, which allows you to quickly solve customer problems without their personal presence on the site. So, for example, when sending equipment to the Kalininsky data center, you can be sure that it will be met, unpacked, installed in a rack and switched in accordance with the terms of reference. Rebooting, visual inspection, checking the functionality of patch cords between equipment, working with the control console, replacing removable media are just a small part of the functionality that can be used in the data center.
In the near future, a project will be implemented to introduce the Digital Assistant in the Data Center service, which will make this service even more convenient.
I cannot but note that the team is made up of professionals in their field who are constantly improving their qualifications and having the majority of specialized certificates: CCNA, CCNP, MCSE, MCSA, Juniper Certify Expert, NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP certificate, NetApp Certified Implementation Engineer, VMware Certified Professional, PMP, IPMA Level B, C, Checkpoint, APKSH "Continent", Positive Technologies, Kaspersky.
Each employee, each engineer has a job description, access to general documents that describe the operation of systems, operating instructions, and the procedure for dealing with various incidents. In all this clearly structured work, one can feel the application of the experience of operating the nuclear power plant. And there is no doubt that the data center operation team professionally ensures the management of all systems, taking as a basis the regulations proven by years of reliable NPP operation.
To increase the efficiency of the provision of service and technical support to customers of the data center, the specialists of JSC "CONSIST-OS" are developing the "Digital Assistant" - a system for automating interaction with customers, implemented on the basis of artificial intelligence (AI) in an interactive format (chat bot, skills for voice assistant). The service will provide text and voice consultations, processing applications and support for the main services of the data center. The customer sends a request via chat in free text or voice form, and the system provides a quick, appropriate response.
As the developers told me, there will be a trial operation very soon.
Part VI. Additional line of defense
Companies that need an unprecedented level of data protection that goes beyond the above measures carried out by employees of the Kalininsky data center (although the currently guaranteed level by the standards of Russian data centers is much higher than average), the data center in the near future will offer an additional set of measures meeting the wishes of the most demanding customers for control and safety.
Part VII. Conclusion: the cherry on top
The Kalininsky data center is located in the Tver region on the northeastern spurs of the Valdai Upland, called the Lesnoy (or Udomelsko-Lesnaya) ridge. There are many picturesque lakes, age-old forests, the purest air ... Being here is a great opportunity to relax, having a change of scenery after a busy day or week. Come and see for yourself!
In any case, I have already agreed with the local guys that on my next visit they will show me the best places to bite ...
