25 August 2010 | Luca Del Buono
Chemical, Energy, Metals and mining, North America

 

The natural gas industry, as well as cryogenics-dependant fields such as nuclear fusion research, will be affected by the complete depletion of global helium reserves over the next 30 years. An inquiry convened by the US National Research Council and chaired by Nobel prize-winning scientist Robert Richardson concluded that the cost of helium should be elevated to encourage conservation.

There is no cost-efficient scientific process for creating helium. Helium is produced as a byproduct of the radioactive decay of thorium and uranium in rock and becomes a component of natural gas. It can be synthesized by bombardment of lithium or boron with high-velocity protons, but this is not an economically viable method of production.

While helium is the second most abundant element on Earth, the lightness of helium caused its evaporation from the gas and dust cloud from which the planet condensed, and it is thus relatively rare on the Earth's surface. Helium comprises 0.00052 percent by volume of the atmosphere. Helium is produced through extraction from underground natural gases, which are cooled and then filtered through charcoal to produce purified gas. The helium may then be sold as a gas or liquid.

Helium's high depletion rate is in part due to a law passed in 1996 which mandates that the world's largest helium reserve, kept in an underground gas field near Amarillo Texas in the US, must be sold off by 2015.

"In 1996, the US Congress decided to sell off the strategic reserve and the consequence was that the market was swelled with cheap helium because its price was not determined by the market," Professor Richardson said. The legislation provoked a statement from the American Physical Society calling for measures to "conserve and enhance the nation's helium reserves."

If resources vanish, industries will require innovation or displacement of all equipment using cryogenics, from MRI scanners to radiation monitors. These devices are currently cooled by a liquid form of the gas. Helium is also crucial for nuclear fusion research, which uses it to cool experimental reactors.

"The basic problem is that helium is too cheap. The Earth is 4.7 billion years old and it has taken that long to accumulate our helium reserves, which we will dissipate in about 100 years. One generation does not have the right to determine availability for ever," Richardson stated.

Professor Richardson believes that helium should be 20 to 50 times its current price, to encourage conservation and recycling of industrial helium. He also estimates that party balloons filled with helium should really cost about USD$ 100 to reflect the preciousness of the gas they contain.

 

Author: Cristina Brooks | Climate Action

Image: Chris Breeze | Flickr

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