In this episode, NENSC Co-Chair Daniel Poneman sits down with Congressman Chuck Fleischmann — Chairman of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, one of Capitol Hill's most influential voices on nuclear energy, and, in his spare time, the novelist behind Once Upon an Empire.

Representing the district that's home to Oak Ridge and Y-12, Fleischmann talks about turning nuclear ambition into real deployment, why securing a domestic fuel supply has to be a priority, what it takes to move from one-off demonstrations to a repeatable fleet, and how bipartisan dealmaking still gets things done in a divided Congress. A practical, optimistic look at the appropriations and alliances that will decide whether America regains its nuclear leadership.