Gone Fission Podcast Expands Focus on Nuclear Renaissance

 
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 21, 2025 – A well-known nuclear industry podcast that has been telling the story of environmental cleanup at Department of Energy facilities nationwide for the past four years is expanding its focus to devote more attention to the emerging nuclear renaissance. Michael Butler, the podcast’s host and producer, says the decision to expand coverage is based, in part, on the impressive surge of nuclear companies locating in the Oak Ridge Corridor. “Perhaps nowhere is the renaissance of nuclear energy more pronounced than in Oak Ridge, where dozens of companies are locating on cleaned up land at the East Tennessee Technology Park,” Butler said. He said the Department of Energy has transferred more than 1,800 acres of formerly contaminated federal land to the local community, igniting a reindustrialization boom with $1.35 billion invested in 25 thriving businesses expected to create 1,400 new jobs.

“Environmental cleanup and DOE’s reindustrialization program has transformed a once-contaminated government site into a vibrant hub of innovation and progress,” Butler said. Butler said a prime example is French-owned Orano’s decision to build a new multi-billion dollar uranium enrichment plant on remediated federal land, a venture that is being called the “largest private investment in Tennessee history.”

Orano USA President Jean-Luc Palayer, a recent guest on Gone Fission, praised the podcast for doing “an incredible job to promote U.S. Department of Energy activities, in particular its mission to remediate the legacy sites for the benefits of the local communities, including Oak Ridge.” Beginning tomorrow (July 22), the Gone Fission podcast will launch its broadened nuclear coverage at the East Tennessee Economic Council’s (ETEC) Nuclear Opportunities Workshop at the Knoxville Convention Center. The workshop is expected to draw 800 to 1000 attendees from companies associated with nuclear power production world-wide, including small modular reactors, advanced nuclear fuel sources, and new uranium enrichment facilities.

“We are thrilled that Gone Fission is launching an exciting expansion of their podcast during ETEC’s Nuclear Opportunities Workshop (NOW),” Tracy Boatner, President and CEO of the East Tennessee Economic Council, said. “NOW has become a premier platform to showcase the advancements and opportunities within the nuclear industry, right here in East Tennessee. The exponential growth of NOW over the past few years underscores Tennessee’s commitment as the nation’s hub for nuclear innovation, driving America’s resurgence as a global leader in nuclear energy." An early Gone Fission guest in the expanded format will be Charles Oppenheimer, grandson of famed atomic pioneer Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, subject of the Academy award-winning summer blockbuster movie in 2023.

Oppenheimer will speak to the Knoxville conference and the podcast about his ongoing work in the Oppenheimer Project and Oppenheimer Energy Ventures. Those organizations carry on his grandfather’s interests in dealing with the effects of nuclear weapons and the prospect of ending global wars.

The Gone Fission podcast, which draws an audience nationally and from countries around the world, is consistently ranked in the Top 200 of Apple’s Business News category and regularly breaks  through the Top 100 of the category, which includes more than 2,000 podcasts on assorted business topics.