The way we get helium — which is used for everything from lifting rockets and balloons to cooling nuclear reactors and the machines used in an estimated 40 million M.R.I. scans done each year across the country — is about to change because of an auction of the federal helium reserves.
The United States last month auctioned off its federal helium reserves, which are near Amarillo, Tex., to a private company, raising concerns that supplies of the substance could be disrupted.
Representatives from medical technology, aerospace, compressed gas, semiconductor and technology industries have called on the Biden administration to delay the sale.
Helium is essential in hospitals, computers and rockets
Helium cools down the magnets used in M.R.I. scanners. It also cools nuclear reactors, is used in semiconductor chip manufacturing, and lifts rockets. Among its most familiar uses, balloons represent only a small portion of the demand.
Helium is a byproduct of natural gas extraction, and it also occurs naturally from radioactive decay in the Earth’s crust.
Why is the government selling off helium?
The United States is the world’s largest producer of helium.
In 2020, the Bureau of Land Management, the national public lands agency, said it was auctioning the federal system to comply with the 2013 Helium Stewardship Act, which required the government to sell its helium assets in a privatization initiative.
