Bruce Dunn has asked about the cost of liquid Helium in large quantities.
Sorry Bruce, I could not get the cost of Helium on our large contract. It is
apparently tied in with a lot of other things, including operation and service.
I did find out about our "small" contract. It is a three year contract for
200 to 300 five hundred liter dewars per year. In this quantity (100000 liters per year for three years) it is $2.35 per liter. I assume this is vented off
to the atmosphere. While we have a collection system here at Fermilab, there
are a lot of places where it is used where it is uneconomical to collect the
gas.
If you are really serious about large quantities for your "Bombastotron"
proposal, I can try to run down an expert for you. We have a very large main
liquifier, and many small satelite refrigerators, a collection system, and it
also seems like we have some sort of operating contract with Air Products.
