Discussion on:

What high-priced helium means for business

What there will be is a lack of helium available at the cheap prices people have been accustomed to paying in the past. But that's tough; the same laws apply to every other commodity we wish were cheaper, like oil, gasoline, gold, etc.

It is unfortunate that the free market was not able to make the transition from government to private industry. The profits would have been large, but things are a mess.

I know of certain groups who struggled to find a source of helium but were shut out because the current suppliers are only dealing with their old customers and not taking on any new customers.

Helium used for party ballons is the least pure of three grades of helium. The second level of purity is used for most commercial use with the highest purity used for research and military applications.

The transition from public to private did not work. There should be a hybrid system so that the public interests can be protected while the private interests can sell helium to those who like to blow up balloons and talk funny.

The part about inert gases caught my attention. When we needed an inert gas when producing silicon ingots to produce solar cells at BP Solarex, we had a couple of choices. Our stations peaked at 1600 degrees Celsius and ran for a 36 hour cycle to produce a 175 lb ingot. We used nitrogen, argon, helium, or sometimes CO2. There could be a difference in yield but we add options so we could maintain production.