this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here’s why the medical world is worried. (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 9 months ago by Five@slrpnk.net to c/news@beehaw.org
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[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 37 points 9 months ago (4 children)

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 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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 😔

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

capitalism at its finest

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 1 points 9 months ago

Stuff only becomes valuable when it's mostly gone...

[–] Gladaed@feddit.de 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Not in a way that could be scaled up to even cover the childrens birthday parties of a medium sized city.

[–] explodicle@local106.com 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

You underestimate the power of AI on the blockchain! Web4 will solve our helium shortage.

[–] zzzzz@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago

Quick! Somebody get this guy some grant money!!

[–] Gurfaild@feddit.de 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] user134450@feddit.de 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But we are consuming about 6 million tons per year (https://www.chemanalyst.com/industry-report/helium-gas-market-578).

The 3000 tons are just a drop in the water and it's pretty much impossible to get to all that.

[–] user134450@feddit.de 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 4 points 9 months ago

There's quite a large amount of the usage which could be labelled "for fun".

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I got the 6 million from this link: https://www.chemanalyst.com/industry-report/helium-gas-market-578

The issue is not how much can be produced right now, but the rate at which we are depleting it.

I found different estimates on how long earth's helium supply will last, and most of them are between 10 and 100 years. That's not a long time, considering that it means we will lose access to a whole element.

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] squaresinger@feddit.de 3 points 9 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.

[–] rhythmisaprancer@kbin.social 19 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see in the article the reason why the stockpile I'd being sold. This I want to know.

[–] Zworf@beehaw.org 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 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.

[–] Bitrot@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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)

[–] rhythmisaprancer@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

Thank you, and @Zworf for the info!
I guess yay for public-private action 🙃but I guess I would prefer proper communal administration.