Unknown consequence of the war in Ukraine, the price of helium used by industry, research and hospitals has taken the lift in recent months. From 17 francs before the crisis, the liter can reach today up to 100 francs on the free market.
This price spike is putting hospitals and the research sector under pressure.
Thus, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva uses helium (a product derived from the extraction of natural gas) to cool the more than 1000 magnets that make up the most powerful particle accelerator in the world.
This one “needs to operate at least 130 tons of helium but by its design, its mode of operation, it has relatively low losses of 10%”, explained in La Matinale on Monday Frédéric Ferrand, in charge of supply.
“We have to replenish helium annually and fairly regularly to maintain the stock necessary for the operation of the machine. The helium market in 2023 remains quite uncertain”.
CERN fears for its supply in the coming months, despite the solidity of the contracts signed with various suppliers, in Switzerland and especially internationally.
Also in hospitals
The tension is also great on the side of hospitals which use this gas to avoid overheating of MRI scanners, and also in the context of medical analyses.
If there really were to be a severe shortage, hospitals would obviously have priority, but the rising price of this resource could increase the price of services.
For the moment, stocks are assured for the next 12 months at the HUG in Geneva. At the CHUV, the situation is a little more critical: the reserves should only cover the next three months.
Recycling system
There is a way to recover helium, but it requires a very large infrastructure. Currently in French-speaking Switzerland, only EPFL has set up such a recycling system.
It is a huge network of underground pipes that connect the various machines to a recovery center. This recycling initiative was launched just after the first crisis caused by the attacks in 2001.
These attacks “generated a global crisis in the supply of helium to the point that all research at EPFL and in many other institutions and companies had to be blocked for several months”, explains Stefano Alberti, at the origin of this recycling initiative. “This is why, a few years later, EPFL decided to invest in having a system that can recover helium in order to always have it available.”
Private requests
Currently, “the crisis forces us to be in a mode of rationing. This system makes it possible to have a kind of buffer reserve which allows us to get through crises, to ensure continuity in deliveries and at the same time to offer prices that are competitive with the market,” added Stefano Alberti.
For now, the helium recycled at EPFL is sold to partners on the site. But the school has already received requests from public and private companies.
Indeed, demand is currently very strong in the field of semiconductors, but also in technology to cool data centers that are constantly running at full speed. Other recycling systems could therefore flourish to cope with the shortage.
Sophie Iselin/lan