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The wikipedia on this provides some context > The National Helium Reserve, also known as the Federal Helium Reserve, is a strategic reserve of the United State
by gustavus 3y ago
The wikipedia on this provides some context
> The National Helium Reserve, also known as the Federal Helium Reserve, is a strategic reserve of the United States, which once held over 1 billion cubic meters (about 170,000,000 kg)[a] of helium gas. The helium is stored at the Cliffside Storage Facility about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Amarillo, Texas, in a natural geologic gas storage formation, the Bush Dome[2] reservoir. The reserve was established with the enactment of the Helium Act of 1925. The strategic supply provisioned the noble gas for airships, and in the 1950s became an important source of coolant during the Cold War and Space Race.
I for one am in favor of keeping it as a national resource in order to prevent the development of a zeppelin capability gap between us and the enemy.
EDIT:
I appreciate the rebuttals below, apparently Helium is important in the usage and production of MRI, IC fabrication, and cooling nuclear reactors. Pushes a reconsideration of the sell off, plus the possible resurgance of steampunk.
- skywal_l 3y agoHelium is not even the best lighter than air gas. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjBgEkbnX2I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjBgEkbnX2I
- ftxbro 3y ago> in the 1950s became an important source of coolant during the Cold War and Space Race they are saying that like there isn't a cold war or space race in the year 2023
- parineum 3y agoOr that helium isn't important to them.
- SoftTalker 3y agoHelium is useful as a coolant in nuclear reactors. If we get back into nuclear power in a big way, we might want a good supply of it.
- WorldMaker 3y agoHelium is critical to tools like MRI machines. If we wish to keep our healthcare industry from technically backsliding, we probably want a good supply of it.
- arcticbull 3y agoHelium is critical for all sorts of things, not least IC fabrication and cooling MRI magnets. This was one of the big issues at the start of the Ukraine invasion because they're one of the world's preeminent suppliers. The big problem is that there's a finite supply - it comes mostly from natural gas wells - and it's running out. Being lighter than air it just goes up and into space. Once we're out, we're out.
- RC_ITR 3y agoFusion is very unlikely to become a viable energy source in the near-term, but it is something we can use to make helium if we are desperate enough.
- CamperBob2 3y agoI asked about this once and someone pointed out the obvious E=mc^2 issue: a fusion reactor will generate only a trivial amount of helium in the process of releasing a large amount of energy.
- smegsicle 3y agoim in my post-energy-scarcity future, blasting plasma into space as fast as i can to squeeze out a party balloon
- arrowsmith 3y agoSo if fusion allows to generate preposterous amounts of cheap energy, what will be easier: generating commercial helium as a by-product, or using all that energy to go and bring helium home from Jupiter?
- hypercube33 3y agoCurrently we need helium to cool the superconducting magnets used to generate fusion reactions so the cart there is before the horse kind of problem, until someone comes up with a better solution.
- dylan604 3y ago
- KennyBlanken 3y agoThis isn't a joke. This is a privatization of a critical, finite resource - a huge step in the wrong direction. There's no way to manufacture helium. You can't condense it from the atmosphere like other gasses because when it's released, it rises and escapes the planet, permanently. The supply is going to become very strategic when we run out of helium for MRI machines and other important superconducting equipment, scientific or otherwise. We may develop suitable lower temperature superconductors, but there are thousands of MRIs that still need it, and plenty of medical centers that won't be able to afford to upgrade to new systems.
- adastra22 3y agoYou mean higher temperature.
- marcus0x62 3y agoIn addition to the other replies you’ve gotten, UHP (ultra high purity) helium is also important in certain welding processes, although there are, generally at least, substitutes in that field.
- rsynnott 3y ago> MRI Is this actually the case anymore? I had the vague idea that fancy modern superconductors now allowed these to run on liquid nitrogen.
- ska 3y agoNo, it's pretty much all helium for clinical work. Short of a quench (catastrophic heating, effectively) the most modern units hardly lose any, and often need less in the first place. An old machine might cost you near 6fig/year in helium refill, especially if out of spec. Some new magnets don't typically need any in a give year.
- cyberax 3y agoHigh-temp superconductors are made of ceramic, so they are very inconvenient to work with. They are also mechanically brittle. So the largest high-temp MRI for now is only big enough to image the head. That being said, there has been a lot of progress in the high-TC superconductors in the recent years.
- mlyle 3y ago> I appreciate the rebuttals below, apparently Helium is important in the usage and production of MRI, IC fabrication, and cooling nuclear reactors. Pushes a reconsideration of the sell off, plus the possible resurgance of steampunk.] Also: liquid fueled rockets and space systems. Being able to nuke the other guy or space supremacy depends upon having helium. Maybe not that much.
- perihelions 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogenous_pressurization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogenous_pressurization
- mlyle 3y agoI wasn't saying there's no alternatives; indeed current ICBMs use very little helium. It's not just about pressurizing the liquid fuels for main engines. It's a purging gas; it can be used to pressurize RCS systems where other approaches are less practical; etc etc etc.
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