The federal government on Monday launched a new nuclear energy strategy that seeks to build at least 10 new large-scale reactors in Canada and expand global exports over the next 15 years.
The strategy builds on Ottawa’s overall aim to double electricity capacity by 2050, something the government argues requires zero-emission power sources like nuclear to avoid wide-scale environmental impacts.
“If our goal is to double our grid and build a low-carbon economy in less than 25 years, there is no credible plan to do that without nuclear energy and the clean, reliable baseload power is provides,” Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said at the strategy’s unveiling in Newmarket, Ont.
“We are writing the next chapter in one of Canada’s great industrial success stories.”
Nuclear power will also be key to achieving Canada’s artificial intelligence goals, according to some experts, with reactors being seen by both government and AI hyperscalers as a reliable, low-emission source for powering large data centres.
“AI is fundamentally changing how much energy we use,” Goran Calic, an associate professor of strategic management at McMaster University, said in an interview. “Not since the industrial revolution have we seen such an enormous increase in demand.
“The mere existence of this document is a positive thing. It does say we’re serious about nuclear, and that means something … but there are ambiguities and hedges (in this strategy).”
What's in the strategy?
At the heart of the strategy is the Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactor, which the federal government owns the intellectual property rights and licensing for. These reactors rely on natural uranium fuel and therefore do not require uranium enrichment, lowering costs and the potential for nuclear weaponization.
Seventeen CANDU reactors across Canada supply 13 per cent of the country’s electricity, while nine others are in service abroad in countries including South Korea, Romania, India and China.
The strategy aims to have two new large-scale reactors under construction by 2035, with five more planned or under development by 2040. It also calls for the commercial rollout of at least one new nuclear reactor outside Ontario, and the creation of a Canadian-made microreactor, by 2035.
Microreactors would then be deployed to remote communities “in the late 2030s” under the strategy’s timetable.
The plan also looks to expand CANDU reactor sales to new countries by securing at least four new international markets by 2040, while engaging six to 10 other countries seeking to enter the nuclear energy space over the next 15 years.
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It also seeks to make Canada a key player in enriched uranium supplies by doubling exports over the next decade.
“Our nuclear energy strategy is ambitious. It has to be, because the scale of the opportunity is immense,” Hodgson said.
The international export goals are being framed as an effort to position Canada as a “partner of choice” for both nuclear technology and raw materials as European and Asian countries seek to turn away from Russia and China. Russia is a key supplier of enriched uranium while China is rapidly expanding nuclear energy production.
“Reactor exports are not transactional. They establish multi-decade partnerships, creating durable geopolitical and commercial relationships that advance Canada’s broader foreign policy interests,” the strategy says.
“As Canada works to diversify its trading relationships and strengthen ties with middle powers, CANDU can be a central instrument of that strategy.”
The strategy is set to be a boon to Saskatchewan’s uranium mining industry, which produces roughly one-quarter of the world’s uranium output which is mostly exported to other countries for nuclear fuel.
Nuclear power projects have been championed by the current Liberal government, which referred the Darlington New Nuclear Project in Ontario to the Major Projects Office for expedited reviews and approval in September.
Last October, the federal and Ontario governments announced a total of $3 billion would go toward a project to build four small nuclear reactors in the Greater Toronto Area.
“Ontario has long called for federal investment to build out the next generation of Made-In-Canada nuclear energy” that will drive jobs and “long-term competitiveness,” Ontario Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement.
At a technical briefing for media earlier Monday, officials from Natural Resources Canada said construction of the new reactors could cost more than $100 billion.
New projects will be built with private financing and capital along with Indigenous equity participation, according to the government, which did not announce any new public funding toward the strategy.
It says a new federal financing policy for new nuclear power projects will be released by April 2027, which will outline preconditions to access available loan streams and Canada Infrastructure Bank investments.
Project proponents at home and abroad will need to develop long-term nuclear waste management and disposal solutions under the strategy.
A modernized, cost-competitive CANDU design will be made available by 2030 for proponents.
The plan also seeks to increase private research and development funding for new nuclear technologies like fission and fusion to between $500 million and $700 million by 2032, more than double the current level.
Mixed reaction to nuclear ambitions
In a statement, industry group Electricity Canada called the strategy “an important development” that recognizes the need for additional electrical grid capacity through multiple clean power sources.
“With demand set to surge from electrification, AI, and economic growth, nuclear power, alongside hydropower, renewables, storage, and emerging technologies, forms a critical part of an ‘all-of-the-above’ solution that keeps the lights on affordably while driving down emissions,” president and CEO Francis Bradley said.
“Canada’s electricity sector is uniquely positioned to lead, with a world-class workforce, proven technology, and a strong domestic supply chain. This strategy helps unlock that potential even further, and helps build the Canadian economy through greater export capacity and more job opportunities.”
The strategy comes as U.S. President Donald Trump also seeks to boost nuclear energy capacity in the United States, in part by slashing regulations.
Calic, the McMaster University professor, said nuclear energy can provide cost-effective stable baseloads and environmental benefits that can offset any potential safety risks.
Yet Allison Macfarlane, director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia, said in an interview that nuclear energy is also incredibly expensive in the long run, especially when construction and research is factored in.
The financial advisory firm Lazard said in its latest annual report on levelized energy cost — the breakdown of construction, fuel cost, operations and maintenance over the life of a facility — that nuclear is one of the most expensive energy technologies, particularly when compared to renewables.
“What I don’t understand is why Canada doesn’t go and take advantage of the low-hanging fruit, which is wind and utility-scale solar,” Macfarlane said. “Your fuel is free.”
She added that AI companies that are eyeing nuclear for their energy needs may grow to become impatient with the time it takes to scale up infrastructure.
“Do you think these folks are going to wait 15 years to build their data centres?” she asked.
“I think you’re going to see, in the next five years or so, these AI guys abandon nuclear because there isn’t going to be anything built for them.”
Asked about the strategy ahead of the announcement at an unrelated press conference in British Columbia on Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he wasn’t sold on the plan.
“An announcement will not build anything,” he said.
“And this is the problem we’ve had with the Carney Liberals is their promises are being reported on as results and so far there have been no results.”
The strategy document says Prime Minister Mark Carney was not shown the strategy and had no role in developing it due to the ethics screen he has in place.
Brookfield co-owns a reactor CANDU competes with and Carney had options and deferred shares in both the Brookfield Corporation and Brookfield Asset Management that were put into a blind trust after he became prime minister.
—With files from the Canadian Press
If only we stopped listening to activists our electrical grid could have been 100% clean energy.
But, hey, their hearts were in the right place, albeit, a little less rational due to heat exhaustion, extreme thirst or starvation as they case may be.
And you silly people thought Carney was talking about pipelines when he kept saying “energy superpower”!
Canada will never build another new oil pipeline again with the Lieberals in office.
While the primary technology chosen for the Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) in Clarington, Ontario, is the GE Vernova-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor, Westinghouse serves as a strategic partner to explore future nuclear growth and advanced technologies with Ontario Power Generation (OPG)
Guess who is involved in Westinghouse? Carney’s Brookfield Assets.
I love me some Fat C0ck in my mouth.
Just saying, I eat sperm
All their junk science-based fake opposition to nuclear till now was likely just to keep the investment opportunity reserved for them
The Liberals and their lefty friends were pulling hair and screaming the sky is falling the sky is falling over nuclear energy for decades, now all of a sudden they have seen the light on nuclear energy that it is clean and is the only way that their targets will be met. Wind and solar just will not cut it and they always knew it but their ideological tunnel vision on nuclear wouldn’t allow them to see the common sense approach of nuclear energy. I tell you, if Liberals and lefties didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards at all.
Wasn’t Canada totally against Nuclear power in the not to distant past now it’s going to be the solution to all the electric consumers will need. The question is how green is nuclear and how safe is it. Especially getting rid of the nuclear waste.
Since when is nuclear waste zero emissions? It is the most dangerous emissions out there.
When will the Liberals learn??? When there is the next nuclear catastrophic, or when a nuclear waste site goes critical.
Canada has the ability to be a nuclear energy powerhouse and the world is screaming for emissions free sources that unlike solar and wind can actually meet the demand