The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here’s why the medical world is worried. 1/25/2024
MRI machines need thousands of liters of liquid helium to function. Health care workers say they can’t afford any disruptions to the helium supply chain.
On Thursday 1/25/2024, the U.S. government sold the Federal Helium Reserve, a massive underground stockpile based in Amarillo, Texas, that supplies up to 30% of the country’s helium.
Once the deal is finalized, the buyer — which will likely be the highest bidder, the industrial gas company Messer — will claim some 425 miles of pipelines spanning Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, plus about 1 billion cubic feet of the only element on Earth cold enough to make an MRI machine work.
Regulatory and logistical issues with the facility threaten a temporary shutdown as it passes from public to private ownership, and hospital supply chain experts worry the sale could have serious consequences for health care down the road — especially when it comes to MRIs.
To be sure, a Federal Helium Reserve shutdown wouldn’t mean that MRIs would suddenly power down across the country, said Soumi Saha, senior vice president of government affairs at Premier Inc., which contracts with helium suppliers on behalf of 4,400 hospitals in the U.S. “But we are stressing about this shortage. From a health care perspective, MRI machines are the No. 1 concern.”
American patients undergo an estimated 40 million MRI scans each year to help diagnose cancer, brain and spinal cord injuries, strokes and heart conditions. The superconductive magnet-powered imaging machines give doctors clear, high-resolution images of areas inside the body they can’t see on X-rays and CT scans. But without liquid helium, the Earth’s coldest element, MRI machines can’t keep their magnets cool enough to generate these images.
The National Helium Reserve, also known as the Federal Helium Reserve, is a strategic reserve of the United States, which once held over 1 billion cubic meters (about 170,000,000 kg)[a] of helium gas. The helium is stored at the Cliffside Storage Facility about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Amarillo, Texas, in a natural geologic gas storage formation, the Bush Dome[2] reservoir. The reserve was established with the enactment of the Helium Act of 1925. The strategic supply provisioned the noble gas for airships, and in the 1950s became an important source of coolant during the Cold War and Space Race.
The sale of the government’s stockpile of the nonrenewable element could exacerbate an existing supply shortage, Saha said.
A number of factors could trigger a shutdown of the facility that could last as long as three years, said Rich Gottwald, CEO of the Compressed Gas Association, a trade group that represents companies, including Messer, that buy up helium and sell it to hospitals, semiconductor manufacturers, NASA and other and other customers.The facility spans three states, each with its own laws. The federal government didn’t need to reconcile state-specific rules, but a private buyer would, he said. Another issue is that helium must be enriched before it can be used, and a separate system is needed to do that. That enrichment system isn’t part of the federal reserve, but is privately owned by four private companies, including Messer; unlike the pipelines and helium itself, it wasn’t for sale.
“A new owner will need to create some sort of lease to use the enrichment unit, or build their own unit to enrich the helium,” Gottwald said. “There’s a whole host of issues that need to be resolved and the concern is, until they’re resolved, the system will need to shut down.”
In a letter in October urging the White House to delay the sale, the CGA and four other trade associations laid out what they see as the most critical issues at the facility. Two of the trade associations behind the letter, AdvaMed and the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance, represent MRI manufacturers.
“Timely, critical patient care would suffer if helium supplies constricted further,” Scott Whitaker, AdvaMed’s CEO, wrote in an email to NBC News. “AdvaMed urges the White House to delay the sale and privatization of the Federal Helium Reserve until outstanding issues identified by the Compressed Gas Association are resolved.”
The sale has been in the works for more than a decade. Congress first mandated it through the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013. It was initially supposed to occur in 2021, but a series of delays — in part due to the same logistical and regulatory issues threatening shutdowns today — postponed the auction to Thursday.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson from the U.S. Interior Department said the sale would not constrict helium supply.
“Sale of the reserve to a private party, as Congressionally mandated by law, is not expected to meaningfully change the availability of helium,” the spokesperson wrote.
Other sources of helium
There’s a finite amount of helium on Earth. The largest reserves are in massive underground pockets in parts of Algeria, Qatar, Russia and the U.S.
While the Texas stockpile is the largest source of helium in the U.S., it’s not the only one. There are a number of smaller, privately owned facilities — some of which are in Colorado and Wyoming — according to Gottwald.
Sourcing helium inside the U.S. or from Canada is the easiest and cheapest option. Transit time is an important factor: If the shipment takes longer than 35 to 48 days, the liquid helium will evaporate.
The two other biggest helium reserves are in Qatar and Russia.
“Shutting down the U.S. helium reserve would force a situation where we would have to increase our reliance on foreign sources, like Qatar and Russia,” Saha said. “Given the ongoing geopolitical concerns and tensions in those regions and shipping delays, it would increase concerns around potential shortages on U.S. soil.”
According to Phil Kornbluth, president of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, the U.S. hasn’t been able to tap into Russia’s helium supply because of strained trade relations and the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have forced Qatar to send liquified natural gas shipments, which contain helium, around the Cape of Good Hope, a route that adds at least 20 days to the journey.
Helium in health and science
Helium was already in short supply before the government sale. Currently, Kornbluth said, three out of five U.S. helium suppliers are rationing the element to prioritize life-or-death uses like MRI machines ahead of less-essential helium uses, like keeping party balloons afloat.
Across the University of California system, for instance, which includes 10 research campuses and six medical schools, the shortage has already hit scientists.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/us-just-sold-helium-stockpile-s-medical-world-worried-rcna134785
Other sources of helium
There’s a finite amount of helium on Earth. The largest reserves are in massive underground pockets in parts of Algeria, Qatar, Russia and the U.S.
While the Texas stockpile is the largest source of helium in the U.S., it’s not the only one. There are a number of smaller, privately owned facilities — some of which are in Colorado and Wyoming — according to Gottwald.
Sourcing helium inside the U.S. or from Canada is the easiest and cheapest option. Transit time is an important factor: If the shipment takes longer than 35 to 48 days, the liquid helium will evaporate.
The two other biggest helium reserves are in Qatar and Russia.
“Shutting down the U.S. helium reserve would force a situation where we would have to increase our reliance on foreign sources, like Qatar and Russia,” Saha said. “Given the ongoing geopolitical concerns and tensions in those regions and shipping delays, it would increase concerns around potential shortages on U.S. soil.”
According to Phil Kornbluth, president of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, the U.S. hasn’t been able to tap into Russia’s helium supply because of strained trade relations and the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have forced Qatar to send liquified natural gas shipments, which contain helium, around the Cape of Good Hope, a route that adds at least 20 days to the journey.
Helium in health and science
Helium was already in short supply before the government sale. Currently, Kornbluth said, three out of five U.S. helium suppliers are rationing the element to prioritize life-or-death uses like MRI machines ahead of less-essential helium uses, like keeping party balloons afloat.
Across the University of California system, for instance, which includes 10 research campuses and six medical schools, the shortage has already hit scientists