Hash Hashemian (president@ans.org), proud grandfather of 1-year-old Vera Rose Sizemore.

With the 2026 ANS Annual Conference right around the corner, planning is well underway, with many exceptional speakers who will explore how fusion and fission can turn breakthrough innovation into real, scalable power that drives our clean energy future. I am looking forward to seeing the nuclear community in Denver in June.

If you want to hear some of my thoughts on the current state of nuclear power before the conference, you can watch or listen to the March 3 episode of the Blockspace podcast, on which I was a guest (blockspace.media/podcast/americas-nuclear-revival-is-here-w-dr-hash-hashemian/). There, I aimed to both reach a broader audience and promote the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.

The episode contains a wide-ranging discussion about the current state of nuclear energy in America, touching on regulatory reform, surging electricity demand, and what it will take to maintain U.S. leadership in nuclear development.

Nucleation Capital is a new venture fund focused on investing in next-generation nuclear energy and deep decarbonization. We are pleased to introduce ourselves to the broader nuclear community under the ANS theme “Invested in Nuclear.” Investing is always a forward-looking endeavor and, from what seemed to be an uncertain future, we’re delighted to see the industry anticipating substantial new growth and working to support it.

Bolstering this new outlook are important trends that are worth highlighting. We’re all seeing amazing shifts in how nuclear power is discussed. In the last few years, Nuclear has garnered surprise support from Democratic governors seeking to protect existing plants and Republican governors repealing old nuclear bans and vying to get next-gen plants sited in their states. In key pieces of federal climate legislation, nuclear has seen equal treatment under ITCs and PTCs and billions allocated to help save older plants and accelerate commercialization of new plants.