Balloon industry deflates due to global helium shortage *Update*

Some experts predict there will be no more helium left for the party industry in less than a decade. 

"It is serious. It is not something that is going to rectify itself within a short space of time. People have predicted that by 2020 there will be no more helium left for the party industry," John Lee, chairman of the balloon industry body NABAS, told the Independent.

There are extraction plants in Canada, Russia and Poland, with America producing about 75 percent of the world’s helium.

However, many say it’s far too valuable to waste on party balloons given that between 2002 and 2007 the price of the gas has doubled.

read at http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/helium-shortage-party-balloons-637/

Gas-cooled reactor

....The GCR was able to use natural uranium as fuel, enabling the countries that developed them to fabricate their own fuel without relying on other countries for supplies of enriched uranium, which was at the time of their development only available from the United States or Soviet Union.

....A gas-cooled reactor (GCR) is a nuclear reactor that uses graphite as a neutron moderator and carbon dioxide (helium can also be used) as coolant. Although there are many other types of reactor cooled by gas, the terms GCR and to a lesser extent gas cooled reactor are particularly used to refer to this type of reactor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas-cooled_reactor

Notice helium above and the only two countries it's available from?

That would put a big hole in their income so we have to do without?

Listen guys you gonna let them take away your kids party balloons to make money from selling helium too? When is enough, enough? 

Views: 282

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by Maria De Wind on August 28, 2012 at 1:48am

The National Helium Reserve, also known as the Federal Helium Reserve, is a strategic reserve of the United States holding over a billion cubic meters (1E9 m3) 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 reservoir. The reserve was established in 1925 as a strategic supply of gas for airships, and in the 1950s became an important source of coolant during the Space Race and Cold War. The facilities were located to be close to the Hugoton and other natural gas fields in southwest Kansas and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. The natural gas in these fields contains unusually high percentages of helium, from 0.3% to 2.7%; they constitute the largest source of helium in the United States. The helium is separated as a byproduct from the produced natural gas. After the "Helium Acts Amendments of 1960" (Public Law 86–777), the U.S. Bureau of Mines arranged for five private plants to recover helium from natural gas. For this helium conservation program, the Bureau built a 425-mile (684 km) pipeline from Bushton, Kansas, to connect those plants with the government's partially depleted Cliffside gas field. This helium-nitrogen mixture was injected and stored in the Cliffside gas field until needed, when it then was further purified. By 1995, a billion cubic metres of the gas had been collected and the reserve was US$1.4 billion in debt, prompting the Congress of the United States in 1996 to phase out the reserve.[1][2] The resulting "Helium Privatization Act of 1996" (Public Law 104–273) directed the United States Department of the Interior to start liquidating the reserve by 2005.[3] By 2007, the federal government was reported as auctioning off the Amarillo Helium Plant. The National Helium Reserve itself was reported as, "(S)lowly being drawn down and sold to private industry."[4] References

1 Emsley, John. Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Page 179. ISBN 0-19-850340-7

2 Guide to the Elements: Revised Edition, by Albert Stwertka (New York; Oxford University Press; 1998; page 24) ISBN 0-19-512708-0

3 http://www.nap.edu/openbook/0309070384/html/index.html Executive Summary

4 Babineck, Mark, "Feds hope a buyer will rise up," 4 August 2007, Houston Chronicle

Comment by suzie on August 27, 2012 at 9:11pm

what is helium? 

Helium-3 (3He) is an isotope of helium that has two protons and one neutron in its nucleus. It is a rare isotope of helium, 0.000134%, most of which occurs with a pair or protons and a pair of neutrons in its nucleus (helium-4). 
HOW DO YOU MAKE HELIUM?
When we talk about an isotope of a given element by stating the element and then assigning a number, the number represents the number of nucleons in that isotop. The term nucleon refers to one of the particles that makes up an atomic nucleus, which is either a proton or a neutron.

How do they make helium? Think about it. It's an inert gas that doesn't combine with anything else, so there can't be helium mines filled with helium ore. The only place I've ever heard of where you can find a lot of helium is the sun, where it's created by fusion. Fusion is prohibitively expensive on earth, yet somehow commercial helium is cheap enough that they can fill toy balloons with it. What's the deal?

Cecil replies:

Come now, Bob, everybody knows fusion isn't the only way to make helium. It's also a by-product of radioactive decay. (The "alpha particles" emitted by some radioactive materials are actually helium atoms minus the electrons.) To get helium all you have to do is find yourself a planet full of uranium and thorium and the like, wait ten jillion years, and presto, you're up to your ankles in the stuff. The helium on the earth's surface drifts off into space, but underground a lot of it collects in pockets of natural gas, particularly in the gas fields of the southwestern U.S. Liquefy the natural gas and filter out impurities and what's left will float a dirigible, cool a nuclear reactor, or make the strongest man sound like a chipmunk. Definitely one of nature's noble gases.



Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_helium-3#ixzz24naGGtDs

Comment by suzie on August 27, 2012 at 9:03pm

WOW  ~ WHAT THE ??

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

tjdavis posted a blog post
16 hours ago
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's video
17 hours ago
Doc Vega's 4 blog posts were featured
17 hours ago
tjdavis's 3 blog posts were featured
17 hours ago
Larry Harmen's blog post was featured
17 hours ago
tjdavis posted a photo
17 hours ago
MAC posted a discussion
yesterday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

New jobs off shore

"It's not surprising many former workers are heading away for better opportunities after being…"
yesterday
cheeki kea posted photos
yesterday
tjdavis posted a photo
yesterday
tjdavis posted videos
yesterday
MAC posted a video

This is INSANE! The Biden administration is doing it in ALL 50 states! | Redacted w Clayton Morris

American Financing:N M L S 1 8 2 3 3 4, N M L S consumer access dot org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.799% for well qualified borrowers. Visit https://...
Friday
tjdavis posted a video

Pete Seeger on being Black Listed in America, 1965: CBC Archives | CBC

In this clip from 1965, folk singer and activist Pete Seeger talks about being black listed for "un-American activities" and his refusal to answer questions ...
Friday
tjdavis posted a photo
Friday
tjdavis posted a blog post
Friday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Letitia James You know the one who Announced She was going after Donald Trump Now targets Ivermectin!
"The Communists from within will not let you co-exist they will continue to try to steal your…"
Thursday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Letitia James You know the one who Announced She was going after Donald Trump Now targets Ivermectin!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/0-1468-600x313.jpg 600w,…See More
Thursday
Mr. Sizzle posted photos
Thursday
Mr. Sizzle favorited Doc Vega's blog post A Message to Illegal Aliens
Thursday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Wednesday

© 2024   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted