{"id":14498,"date":"2021-03-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/22-03-2021\/helium-crisis-in-india\/"},"modified":"2021-03-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T00:00:00","slug":"helium-crisis-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-03-2021\/helium-crisis-in-india","title":{"rendered":"Helium Crisis in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>US is planning to cut off the export of helium<\/strong> from 2021 and the Indian industry stands to lose out heavily.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The<strong> US<\/strong> is the <strong>biggest storehouse and the most important exporter<\/strong> of helium across the world.<\/li>\n<li>Every year, India imports helium worth Rs. 55,000 crores from the US to meet its needs.\n<ul>\n<li>India <strong>consumes about 70 million cubic metres<\/strong> per year.<\/li>\n<li>It is a<strong> key ingredient for India\u2019s high technology<\/strong> and the <strong>most sophisticated medical diagnosis<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>About Helium<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Helium (<strong>He<\/strong>) is a chemical element, <strong>inert gas of Group 18<\/strong> (<strong>noble<\/strong> gases) of the periodic table.<\/li>\n<li>It is the <strong>second lightest element<\/strong> after hydrogen.<\/li>\n<li>It is a <strong>colourless<\/strong>, <strong>odourless<\/strong>, and <strong>tasteless <\/strong>gas that becomes<strong> liquid at \u2212268.9 \u00b0C <\/strong>(\u2212452 \u00b0F).<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>boiling <\/strong>and <strong>freezing <\/strong>points of helium are<strong> lower than those of any other known substance<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Helium is the<strong> only element that cannot be solidified by sufficient cooling at normal atmospheric pressure <\/strong>and it is necessary to apply pressure of 25 atmospheres at a temperature of 1 K (\u2212272 \u00b0C, or \u2212458 \u00b0F) to convert it to its solid form.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Production<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Helium gas (98.2 per cent pure) is <strong>isolated from natural gas by liquefying the other components<\/strong> at low temperatures and under high pressures.<\/li>\n<li>Adsorption of other gases on cooled, activated charcoal yields 99.995 per cent pure helium.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/20795798335871950_image.png\" style=\"height:419px; margin-left:150px; margin-right:150px; width:626px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(Image Courtesy: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/helium-chemical-element\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Britannica<\/a>)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Applications<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It is used as an <strong>inert-gas atmosphere for welding metals <\/strong>such as aluminium.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>rocket propulsion<\/strong> to pressurize fuel tanks, especially those for liquid hydrogen, because only helium is still a gas at liquid-hydrogen temperature.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>meteorology <\/strong>as a <strong>lifting gas<\/strong> for instrument-carrying balloons.<\/li>\n<li>In<strong> cryogenics as a coolant<\/strong> because liquid helium is the coldest substance.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>high-pressure breathing operations<\/strong> mixed with oxygen, as in scuba diving and caisson work, especially because of its low solubility in the bloodstream.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>MRI scanners<\/strong>, as a coolant to give the magnetic coils in the scanner superconductive properties.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Meteorites and rocks<\/strong> have been<strong> analyzed for helium content<\/strong> as a means of <strong>dating<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Alternatives<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Imports:<\/strong> <strong>Qatar <\/strong>is a <strong>possible exporter<\/strong> of Helium but it is <strong>not seen as a credible source<\/strong> due to political and diplomatic concerns.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Extraction:<\/strong> India\u2019s <strong>Rajmahal volcanic basin<\/strong> around Bakreswar and nearby Tantloi (<strong>Jharkhand<\/strong>) is the storehouse of helium.\n<ul>\n<li>It is being <strong>mapped extensively<\/strong> for future exploration and harnessing of helium.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Atomic Mineral Division<\/strong> of the<strong> Department of Atomic Energy<\/strong> (DAE) has started preliminary measurements and surveys.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:735px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"vertical-align:top; width:6.5in\">\n<p><strong>Department of Atomic Energy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It came into being in<strong> August 1954<\/strong> under the <strong>direct charge of the Prime Minister <\/strong>through a <strong>Presidential Order<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>DAE has been <strong>engaged in<\/strong> the development of nuclear power technology, applications of radiation technologies in the fields of agriculture, medicine, industry and basic research.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/the-emerging-crisis-of-obtaining-helium-in-india\/article34118742.ece#:~:text=In%201906%20a%20young%20Englishman,beach%2C%20in%20a%20pioneering%20effort.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News The US is planning to cut off the export of helium from 2021 and the Indian industry stands to lose out heavily. The US is the biggest storehouse and the most important exporter of helium across the world. Every year, India imports helium worth Rs. 55,000 crores from the US to meet its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[26,33],"class_list":["post-14498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-3","tag-science-technology"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/4318909current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}