XPost: alt.fan.heinlein   
   From: tkoenig@netcologne.de   
      
   Scott Dorsey  schrieb:   
   > Lynn McGuire   wrote:   
   >>   
   >>Helium is not in short supply.  I can buy cans of it at many stores for   
   >>blowing up balloons.   
   >   
   > Although the shortage is not as bad as it was five or six years ago   
   > before the US started selling off the helium reserves, the prices are   
   > still high and most companies will sell only a limited amount at a time.   
   > Really annoying for people who do weather balloons.   
   >   
   > BUT... there is a solution, and it's nuclear power since it's a decay   
   > product of uranium and thorium.   
      
   Production of helium is around 30000 tons a year.   The amount you could   
   get from nuclear power is _far_ less.  Do the math (and don't forget to   
   put in the molar mass of He and U, respectively).  Hint: It's not   
   enough.   
      
   It would also be an interesting problem to retrofit nuclear power plants   
   for He collection...   
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