MRI machines need thousands of liters of liquid helium to function. Health care workers say they can’t afford any disruptions to the helium supply chain.
  • Square Singer@feddit.de
    38·
    5 months ago

    One relevant part that I couldn’t really find in the article is that helium is so light that it escapes Earth’s atmosphere when released into the air.

    So any helium that is released to the air is permanently gone.

    There is also no known way to synthesize helium, and it also doesn’t renew itself at all on Earth.

    It’s also the only substance we have to cool stuff really far down. That’s why e.g. MRIs depend on it.

    And we put this precious, finite and often life saving substance into kids’ balloons to make them bobble nicely through the air.

    • Zworf@beehaw.org
      29·
      5 months ago

      We could recover a lot more helium from natural gas production (some fields contain a lot) but right now it’s vented because it doesn’t have enough value for the operators. Only a few places worldwide bother recovering it during refinement.

      But as it gets scarcer the price will go up. Unfortunately the already vented helium is gone forever 😔

    • Gladaed@feddit.de
      15·
      5 months ago

      We don’t know any economical way to synthesise helium. Nuclear fusion exists.

    • Gurfaild@feddit.de
      10·
      5 months ago

      It does somewhat renew itself due to alpha decay, but that probably isn’t fast enough to matter.

      • user134450@feddit.deEnglish
        7·
        5 months ago

        from the wiki article on Helium:

        an estimated 3000 metric tons of helium are generated per year throughout the lithosphere.

        I think the main issue here is not that we are loosing helium on a planetary scale but that the easy to reach helium from gas wells is wasted. We will never run out of helium at our current rate of consumption before the sun goes nova, if we consider all sources on earth, but it will get a lot more expensive and the supply will get less steady.

          • user134450@feddit.deEnglish
            6·
            5 months ago

            oh i must have missed a few orders of magnitude there. 6Mt of helium is a ridiculous amount though … what is all that used for? according to WA that is about the water volume of the three gorges dam at STP

            Edit: just read the report, wow, more than a quarter of all the helium is used just for “breathing mixes” which i assume means its for scuba diving.

    • jarfil@beehaw.org
      6·
      5 months ago

      Hydrogen fusion plants would produce helium in the reaction, which would need to be constantly filtered out.

      Would be nice if that was the reason.

      • Square Singer@feddit.de
        3·
        5 months ago

        But not nearly the required amounts. We currently use about 6 million metric tons of helium per year.

        If fusion plants ever become a commercially viable thing (and that’s a big if), they will never be able to supply anything close to that.

        • jarfil@beehaw.org
          3·
          5 months ago

          According to this, the anual production is 160 million cubic meters, which at a density of 0.166kg/m³ would be over 26 million metric tons of helium per year.

          https://www.statista.com/statistics/925214/helium-production-worldwide-by-country/

          If we currently only use 6, that’s 20 too many being produced. It would also seem like China is 95% dependent on helium import, so the US selling its reserves could be a reasonable way to level the import/export balance.

            • jarfil@beehaw.org
              3·
              5 months ago

              According to the OP article:

              Both Philips and Siemens Healthineers recently started selling alternatives to traditional MRI machines, which hold 1,700 to 1,800 liters of liquid helium and require constant replenishment.

              Some models now require just 1 to 7 liters of helium and don’t need any replenishment.

              That could mean a much lower usage, and a much longer timespan for the supply.

              • Square Singer@feddit.de
                3·
                5 months ago

                That would indeed be very helpful. But if all the other usages keep draining the supply, it will only help extend artificial reserves.

    • Zworf@beehaw.org
      21·
      5 months ago

      The reason the stockpile was there was it being classified as a strategic resource during the time around WW1 and 2 when airships were a big thing. It’s just not really something the government thinks they need to be involved in anymore. Though you could argue its use is becoming more strategic again.

      But anyway I’m not defending the sale, I just believe this was the reason they wanted to sell it.

    • NaN@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      12·
      5 months ago

      Helium Stewardship Act of 2013.

      It sounds like the government was doing a poor job with it.

      Edit: Actually it sounds like part of the poor job was due to implementation of the Helium Privatization Act of 1996, and 2013 was trying to fix some of it. It’s expensive and government has been trying to get out of it for a while. (The GAO also has some information).

      Every 90s democrat knows if it’s important for science, health, and national security it’s better in the hands of private industry. Also screw welfare. (-Bill Clinton, 1996)