Canada's nuclear renaissance accelerates as government and industry position small modular reactors (SMRs) as critical baseload for AI datacenter power.

Taryn Roske lost her job twice when the nuclear industry contracted. The Cameco employee was among hundreds laid off from the company's Rabbit Lake mine in northern Saskatchewan after it shut down in 2016. "I had to sell my house," she said. "I ended up taking a loss on that, because the housing market was in a horrible place."

Four months later, she found work at Cameco's McArthur River mine and Key Lake mill, but those operations ceased two years later, triggering another round of layoffs. She eventually landed at Cigar Lake, where she has worked since. "I think people thought that it was kind of over and that we weren't going to make a comeback," she reflected. "But in the last few years, it's proved otherwise."

After roughly a decade of stagnation, the nuclear industry is experiencing what many call a renaissance. Countries across the globe—from China and India to the United States—are either building or planning new nuclear power plants. Canada's federal government has proposed constructing 10 new reactors by 2040 and wants to sell Canadian-made reactors internationally while doubling uranium exports. Ontario is building a small modular reactor at the Darlington station in Bowmanville, northeast of Toronto, and Saskatchewan is planning to construct a small reactor in the 2030s.

Uranium, the radioactive metal at the heart of most nuclear reactors, is refined into pellets that generate heat and electricity. Saskatoon-based Cameco, formed in 1988 from a merger of two Crown corporations, ranks among the world's largest uranium producers. Improved market conditions have allowed the company to restart operations: McArthur River and Key Lake resumed production in 2022, while Cigar Lake plans to begin extracting uranium from a newer section in 2030. Rabbit Lake remains suspended.

The industry's decline traces back to Japan's Fukushima disaster in March 2011, when an earthquake triggered a tsunami that overwhelmed the Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing meltdowns and explosions that released radioactive material. The earthquake and tsunami killed roughly 22,000 people, with thousands more resettling due to radiation concerns. Uranium prices collapsed, and public support for nuclear power evaporated. "The world said, 'We don't need—we don't want—this uranium. We don't want nuclear power,'" recalled Kirk Lamont, general manager of Cigar Lake. "It was devastating to the people that work at Cameco."

Public opinion has shifted over the past few years for two main reasons, according to Peter Elder, chief scientific officer at Canadian Nuclear Labs. Countries want to cut emissions while meeting growing electricity demand, and nuclear power produces no emissions, though waste requires safe storage. Nations also seek reliable, controllable energy sources insulated from geopolitical disruption. "Once you build nuclear, it's relatively safe from someone not turning off your tap nearly as easily as oil or natural gas," Elder said. Major U.S. tech companies have also signed deals to power data centers with nuclear energy, willing to pay a premium for its reliability—something renewable sources cannot yet guarantee. Japan has reopened some plants, citing energy security after initially committing to phase-out.

Canada's mining sector is capitalizing on the revival. Denison Mines Corp. is developing the Wheeler River project, while NexGen Energy Ltd. is constructing its Rook I site. Production from both is expected within years. "If you look at the capacity in Saskatchewan, you could almost see that in the next few years it could triple," Elder said. All of Canada's uranium mines are located in the Athabasca basin of northern Saskatchewan.

Canada will need a strong workforce to build more reactors and manage longer construction timelines. At Cameco, the revival could spur additional investment. "It's those contracts that we sign that are going to enable us and backstop the investment in growing our production as we can," said Cory Kos, vice-president of investor relations.

For Roske, the uranium resurgence has been a "huge blessing." "It's longevity in my career," she said. "It's given me 16 years now, and hopefully it's long enough for me to retire."