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The world’s supply of helium is being threatened by the Iran war

The Conversation · · 842 words · By Gavin D J Harper

The article explains how geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East have disrupted global helium supply chains, impacting industries reliant on helium for cooling superconducting magnets in MRI machines, particle accelerators, and quantum computing. It details helium's unique properties, production methods, and efforts by countries like China and the U.S. to diversify supply.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-supply-of-helium-is-being-threatened-by-t…

analyticsAnalysis

0%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

24 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

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“The war in the Middle East has disrupted the world’s supply of helium.”
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of modern conflicts ensuing in the geographic and political region known as the Middle East. The "Middle East" is traditionally defined as the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia), Levant, an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modern_conflicts_in_th…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Middle East is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, the Levant, and Turkey. The term came into widespread usage by Western European nations in the early 20t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_and_North_Africa
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“Qatar produces about a third of global helium, but attacks on its gas infrastructure have forced production to stop.”
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“Iran is blocking the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest shipping channels, through which Qatar exports both natural gas and helium.”
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“Helium is used to cool the superconducting magnets used in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanners, which help diagnose conditions through high-resolution, 3D imaging of human tissues.”
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“Superconducting magnets enable the sustained, intense currents needed for high resolution imaging.”
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“Helium is the ideal coolant for these magnets because it has the lowest boiling point of any element: -268.9°C.”
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Helium (from Ancient Greek: ἥλιος, romanized: helios, lit. 'sun') is a chemical element; it has symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the firs…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Helium-3 (3He see also helion) is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron (in contrast to the more common isotope, helium-4, which has two protons and two neutrons.) Helium-…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The noble gases (historically the inert gases, sometimes referred to as aerogens) are the members of group 18 of the periodic table: helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), radon…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_gas
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“Some particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider at Cern in Geneva, also use liquid helium to cool their superconducting magnets.”
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, in collabo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Future Circular Collider (FCC) is a proposed particle accelerator with an energy significantly above that of previous circular colliders, such as the Super Proton Synchrotron, the Tevatron, and th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Circular_Collider
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) was one of the largest particle accelerators ever constructed. It was built at CERN, a multi-national centre for research in nuclear and particle physics ne…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Electron–Positron_Collid…
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“The processors in quantum computers need to be cooled to similarly low temperatures in order to operate and, here too, helium is the coolant of choice.”
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“Helium is used in computer chip production to displace oxygen and moisture within fabrication facilities.”
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“Helium is also used as a coolant during high-temperature stages of chip production.”
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“In space rockets, the non-flammable gas is used to flush out fuel lines and to pressurise fuel tanks.”
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“Welding and fibre optic production requires helium to create inert, controlled environments.”
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“Helium’s value comes from physical properties that are very difficult to substitute.”
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“Despite being the second most abundant element in the universe, helium is extremely rare on Earth.”
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“Helium is produced underground over billions of years from the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium.”
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“Manufacturing helium is rarely produced on its own. In Qatar and other countries, helium is produced as a by-product of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production.”
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“Exporting helium is not simple. It requires highly specialised cryogenic containers to keep it extremely cold during transport.”
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“Other countries have tried to develop helium production to reduce reliance on Qatar. Iran has worked to extract helium from its South Pars Gas Field, but sanctions have made this difficult.”
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“The US has the world’s largest helium reserves, stored in Amarillo, Texas.”
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“In recent decades, however, the US sold off much of the stockpile under the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013, reducing this safety net.”
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“With semiconductor supply chains threatened, there is a risk that helium shortages could act as a constraint on the AI revolution.”
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“Taiwan, the global leader in chipmaking, has said that its stocks of helium are stable due to a🦇 diverse supply chain.”
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“South Korea's helium supplies will be depleted by June.”
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“Countries can adapt to helium shortages through stockpiling, substitution, recycling, and diversification.”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.