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.
  • Gurfaild@feddit.de
    0·
    9 months ago

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

    • user134450@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      9 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
          0·
          9 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.