HE-3 - STATUS AND PROSPECTS

We report on our continuing efforts to determine He-3 abundances in H II regions and planetary nebulae. Our detections of He-3 in some PNe s how that some stars produce large amounts of He-3. However the H II re gion abundances show no evidence for this production. From our sample of >40 H II regions, the subsample which should yield the most reliabl e abundances has He-3/H abundances which scatter between 1-2 x 10(-5). There is no trend with either galactocentric distance or metallicity. Even if we do not understand the underlying mechanisms, we see empiri cally that stars neither produce nor destroy He-3 in a major way. We t hus suggest that the level of the ''He-3 Plateau'' (He-3/H = 1.5(-0.5) (+1.0) x 10(-5)) is a reasonable estimate for the primordial He-3.