Canadian Nuclear Emancipation: How Canada can benefit from global dreams of energy security and nuclear development
Canada doesn't always have to be falling behind.
“Diversification internationally,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney remarks, “is not just economic prudence — it is the material foundation for honest foreign policy.” Carney’s address to the World Economic Forum on surviving the rupture of the international system predicted the global energy crisis caused by the ongoing Iran conflict and the Strait of Hormuz crisis, sparked as a result of President Donald Trump’s deep-seated suspicion of Tehran’s nuclear energy generation program.
However, nuclear ambitions are non-exclusive to Iran. As the oil crisis worsens, countries are looking to the long-term securitization of alternate sources of fuel. The looming climate crisis creates ever intensifying pressures for governments to pursue green energy generation. In an age of economic interdependence, it is crucial that Canada can diversify its energy options and use global nuclear demand for its benefit.
Energy for the Future
The so-called “global nuclear order” is commonly viewed as states balancing awesome atomic arsenals and strategic restraint, characterized by norms of US-led cooperation and age-old deterrence norms such as mutually assured destruction.
Yet, the scope of the nuclear risk overshadows the reality of the nuclear reward. Notions of great powers and grand strategy eclipses the latent network of private corporations, state agencies, and non-governmental actors that work to ensure the operation of civilian nuclear programs, a highly efficient and renewable form of energy generation.
Alongside fossil fuels, nuclear power generation is vital for Canadians’ quality of life and economic growth. Nuclear power plants source approximately half of total electricity consumed in Ontario, the largest provincial economy in Canada representing approximately 40% of the national economic output. According to 2026 data from Natural Resources Canada, domestic Canadian nuclear energy employs more than 89,000 people and contributes 22 billion to the Canadian economy every year.
Moreover, nuclear power is critical in maintaining international energy security. Diversification of energy sources hedges for global supply shocks, a hallmark of geopolitical instability. A nation’s access to electricity is key to the subsistence of its people and the maintenance of its economy, an important consideration for politicians worldwide.
Global nuclear industries are also key players in the international push for net-zero emission targets. The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2023 marked a critical juncture where countries solidified the objective to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050, encouraging the shared increase in adoption of nuclear energy by national energy firms.
The Canadian Idiosyncrasy
In 2024, Canadian uranium production accounted for 24% of exports worldwide, ranking second globally. Given uranium is the fuel for over 99% of global nuclear energy generation and atomic research, Canada thus has at its disposal a large range of buyers for its uranium exports. Canada is also a global leader in nuclear power innovation and nuclear technological sales to other states. CANDU, the Canadian-developed heavy water reactor system, is distributed internationally to key geopolitical players such as China, India, and South Korea.
Canadian companies are also pioneering the building and development of Small Modular Reactor (SMR) models, a new form of nuclear technology that is small scale and significantly reduced in cost. As the first of the G7 countries to do so, Canada has a first-mover advantage; in a world where Canada is the first to expand and export SMR technologies globally, achieving international nuclear market dominance follows, as the world increasingly demands accessible nuclear capacity-increasing technologies.
Canada expanding its stakes in the global nuclear supply chains can be through greater investment in existing uranium extraction facilities and export capacity, as well as the increase in research and development programs for vital nuclear technologies. A greater share of global nuclear markets can mean economic gain and leverage, where Canada’s exclusivity in nuclear fuel and technological supply can bring Canada greater economic growth.
Moreover, Canada’s allies face crises of energy security. In particular, Russia is the only supplier of nuclear fuel to Canadian allies in the European Union including Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria, creating an energy bottleneck that can be leveraged during periods of geopolitical conflict. Helping European allies reduce reliance on Russian fuel could yield diplomatic goodwill and mutual benefit from strategic partners. Through playing a supplementary role in the global nuclear market, Canada can better support its allies, creating trust that results in mutual support in times of need.
Proliferation Caution
Perhaps building bombs are not too far off from building reactors. However, the reality of the threat lies in existing weapons, which stay stagnant even with the growth of global nuclear capacity. This is because a state’s commitment to nonproliferation, the requisite to safe civilian nuclear programs, can be safeguarded through external sanctions and coercion from key allies, a toolkit the U.S. has used in the past that Canada may also leverage.
Additionally, studies show treaties have generally worked empirically to deter horizontal proliferation of nuclear weapons. Further, the various nuclear proliferation crises in the 1990s have enabled the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to mechanize strong institutional safeguards against risks of weaponization. Article 7 of the IAEA statute stipulates full-time access to all “places, data, and any person” that is involved with nuclear programs by its signatory countries, fostering non-proliferation standards through rigorous inspection programs and securitizing the development of nuclear capacity.
Moving Forward
Canada is special, having unique access to vast uranium supplies and cutting-edge nuclear power generation technologies. Canadian companies have a history of innovation in the field of nuclear energy, demonstrating high institutional knowledge and expansive growth potential.
Canadian nuclear power in an age of energy uncertainty and net-zero goals are sure to yield economic and geopolitical advantages. The key to Canada’s rise from its status as a middle power rests not in military might nor diplomatic ubiquity, but proving indispensable in an era with ever-skyrocketing energy consumption, demand for sustainable development, and the forever intensifying geopolitical competition. The next decade is Canada’s opportunity to mobilize supply-side leverage, resulting in prosperity and stability for all Canadians.