XPost: alt.fan.heinlein   
   From: wthyde1953@gmail.com   
      
   Thomas Koenig wrote:   
   > 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...   
   >   
   All you need are scrubbers lined with a chemical that strongly binds to   
   Helium and ....   
      
   Perhaps caviar will do.  Helium is a noble gas, after all.   
      
   William Hyde   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)