The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here’s why the medical world is worried.

Five@slrpnk.net to World News@beehaw.org – 61 points –
The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here’s why the medical world is worried.
nbcnews.com
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We could recover a lot more helium from natural gas production (some fields contain a lot) but right now it's vented because it doesn't have enough value for the operators. Only a few places worldwide bother recovering it during refinement.

But as it gets scarcer the price will go up. Unfortunately the already vented helium is gone forever 😔