Will We Run Out of Helium?

Re:Will We Run Out of Helium? by tapland on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @11:17AM (#21815022)

Helium is a by-product of fission, but the product of fusion. The formation from alpha-particles around fission reactions (and the amount being like 100g/year?) makes it not very worthwhile to collect.

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Re:Will We Run Out of Helium? by OJFord on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @01:31PM (#21816869)

What's the distinction between product and by-product then?

I called it a 'by-product' because it's not the product we're actually aiming for, not the point of the exercise - if oxygen were produced instead (by whatever science-ignoring magic) we wouldn't mind.

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Re:Will We Run Out of Helium? by tapland on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @08:29PM (#21820921)

But in Fusion what we are doing is intentionally creating helium. It's the mechanism we want.

In fission it's a byproduct in that it's not our main intention.

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Re:Will We Run Out of Helium? by marcosdumay on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @03:43PM (#21818585)

Will fusion produced helium be cleaner than fission produced one?

The answer looks very simple until you remember it is produced inside a container, that may of may not contaminate it.

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