The Impact of Selling the Federal Helium Reserve

The Impact of Selling the Federal Helium Reserve
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2000-06-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0309070384

The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-273) directs the Department of the Interior to begin liquidating the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve by 2005 in a manner consistent with "minimum market disruption" and at a price given by a formula specified in the act. It also mandates that the Department of the Interior "enter into appropriate arrangements with the National Academy of Sciences to study and report on whether such disposal of helium reserves will have a substantial adverse effect on U.S. scientific, technical, biomedical, or national security interests." This report is the product of that mandate. To provide context, the committee has examined the helium market and the helium industry as a whole to determine how helium users would be affected under various scenarios for selling the reserve within the act's constraints. The Federal Helium Reserve, the Bush Dome reservoir, and the Cliffside facility are mentioned throughout this report. It is important to recognize that they are distinct entities. The Federal Helium Reserve is federally owned crude helium gas that currently resides in the Bush Dome reservoir. The Cliffside facility includes the storage facility on the Bush Dome reservoir and the associated buildings pipeline.

The Future of Helium as a Natural Resource

The Future of Helium as a Natural Resource
Author: William Nuttall
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2012-06-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136322736

The book reveals the changing dynamics of the helium industry on both the supply-side and the demand-side. The helium industry has a long-term future and this important gas will have a role to play for many decades to come. Major new users of helium are expected to enter the market, especially in nuclear energy (both fission and fusion). Prices and volumes supplied and expected to rise and this will prompt greater efforts towards the development of new helium sources and helium conservation and recycling.

Federal Helium Conservation Program

Federal Helium Conservation Program
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Subcommittee on Mines and Mining
Publisher:
Total Pages: 422
Release: 1970
Genre: Helium
ISBN:

Helium

Helium
Author: Wheeler M. "Bo" Sears, Jr.
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 149
Release: 2015-02-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319151231

The subject of the book is helium, the element, and its use in myriad applications including MRI machines, particle accelerators, space telescopes, and of course balloons and blimps. It was at the birth of our Universe, or the Big Bang, where the majority of cosmic helium was created; and stellar helium production continues. Although helium is the second most abundant element in the Universe, it is actually quite rare here on Earth and only exists because of radioactive elements deep within the Earth. This book includes a detailed history of the discovery of helium, of the commercial industry built around it, how the helium we actually encounter is produced within the Earth, and the state of the helium industry today. The gas that most people associate with birthday party balloons is running out. “Who cares?” you might ask. Well, without helium, MRI machines could not function, rockets could not go into space, particle accelerators such as those used by CERN could not operate, fiber optic cables would not exist, and semiconductor chips could not be made...the list goes on and on.

Cryogenic Helium Refrigeration for Middle and Large Powers

Cryogenic Helium Refrigeration for Middle and Large Powers
Author: Guy Gistau Baguer
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 725
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030516776

This book offers a practical introduction to helium refrigeration engineering, taking a logical and structured approach to the design, building, commissioning, operation and maintenance of refrigeration systems. It begins with a short refresher of cryogenic principles, and a review of the theory of heat exchangers, allowing the reader to understand the importance of the heat exchanger role in the various thermodynamic cycle structures. The cycles are considered from the simplest (Joule Thomson) to the most complicated ones for the very large refrigeration plants and, finally, those operating at temperatures lower than 4.5 K. The focus then turns to the operation, ability and limitations of the main components, including room temperature cycle screw compressors, heat exchangers, cryogenic expansion turbines, cryogenic centrifugal compressors and circulators. The book also describes the basic principles of process control and studies the operating situations of helium plants, with emphasis on high level efficiency. A major issue is helium purity, and the book explains why helium is polluted, how to purify it and then how to check its purity, to ensure that all components are filled with pure helium prior to starting. Although the intention of the book is not to design thermodynamic cycles, it is of interest to a designer or operator of a cryogenic system to perform some simplified calculations to get an idea of how components or systems are behaving. Throughout the book, such calculations are generally performed using Microsoft® Excel and the Gaspak® or Hepak® software.

The Future of Helium as a Natural Resource

The Future of Helium as a Natural Resource
Author: William J. Nuttall
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2012-06-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136322728

The book reveals the changing dynamics of the helium industry on both the supply-side and the demand-side. The helium industry has a long-term future and this important gas will have a role to play for many decades to come. Major new users of helium are expected to enter the market, especially in nuclear energy (both fission and fusion). Prices and volumes supplied and expected to rise and this will prompt greater efforts towards the development of new helium sources and helium conservation and recycling.

Radiation Damage in Materials

Radiation Damage in Materials
Author: Yongqiang Wang
Publisher: MDPI
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2020-12-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 303936362X

The complexity of radiation damage effects in materials that are used in various irradiation environments stems from the fundamental particle–solid interactions and the subsequent damage recovery dynamics after the collision cascades, which involves multiple length and time scales. Adding to this complexity are the transmuted impurities that are unavoidable from accompanying nuclear processes. Helium is one such impurity that plays an important and unique role in controlling the microstructure and properties of materials used in fast fission reactors, plasma-facing and structural materials in fusion devices, spallation neutron target designs, actinides, tritium-containing materials, and nuclear waste. Their ultra-low solubility in virtually all solids forces He atoms to self-precipitate into small bubbles that become nucleation sites for further void growth under radiation-induced vacancy supersaturations, resulting in material swelling and high-temperature He embrittlement, as well as surface blistering under low-energy and high-flux He bombardment. This Special Issue, “Radiation Damage in Materials—Helium Effects”, contains review articles and full-length papers on new irradiation material research activities and novel material ideas using experimental and/or modeling approaches. These studies elucidate the interactions of helium with various extreme environments and tailored nanostructures, as well as their impact on microstructural evolution and material properties.

Collected Papers of L.D. Landau

Collected Papers of L.D. Landau
Author: D. Ter Haar
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 859
Release: 2013-10-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1483152707

Collected Papers of L. D. Landau brings together the collected papers of L. D. Landau in the field of physics. The discussion is divided into the following sections: low-temperature physics (including superconductivity); solid-state physics; plasma physics; hydrodynamics; astrophysics; nuclear physics and cosmic rays; quantum mechanics; quantum field theory; and miscellaneous works. Topics covered include the intermediate state of supraconductors; the absorption of sound in solids; the properties of metals at very low temperatures; and production of showers by heavy particles. This volume is comprised of 100 chapters and begins with Landau's paper on the theory of the spectra of diatomic molecules, followed by his studies on the damping problem in wave mechanics; quantum electrodynamics in configuration space; electron motion in crystal lattices; and the internal temperature of stars. Some of Landau's theories, such as those of stars, energy transfer on collisions, phase transitions, and specific heat anomalies are discussed. Subsequent chapters focus on the structure of the undisplaced scattering line; the transport equation in the case of Coulomb interactions; scattering of light by light; and the origin of stellar energy. This book will be a valuable resource for physicists as well as physics students and researchers.