Canada Plans to Build 10 New Nuclear Power Plants by 2040

Canada's federal government announced a nuclear energy strategy on June 22, 2026, committing to build up to 10 new nuclear reactors over the next 15 years. The plan calls for construction to start on the first two reactors by 2035, with all 10 operational by 2040. At least one reactor will be built outside Ontario, Canada's traditional nuclear centre.

This kind of phased approach — starting a couple of reactors while planning others — is similar to how South Korea has built its nuclear fleet. Spreading construction across multiple sites over time allows the industry to learn and improve with each project, letting supply chains and workers develop expertise in parallel.

What Canada Plans to Do

The strategy requires at least one reactor outside Ontario, which has long been where Canada focuses its nuclear work. This requirement signals an intention to spread both the benefits of nuclear energy and the practical challenges of building such plants across different provinces. Public details about which provinces might host these new reactors have not been released yet.

Canada has a major advantage most countries lack: it produced roughly one-quarter of the world's uranium in 2024, making it one of the top two or three suppliers globally. This means Canada will not have to rely on other countries for nuclear fuel the way many nations do. That's a substantial structural advantage as planning moves forward.

The nuclear industry already employs around 89,000 people in Canada and contributes an estimated C$22 billion to the economy each year. Building 10 new reactors will push the existing workforce and supply chain to their limits. Canada will need to decide whether it can train and hire enough skilled workers and manufactures the necessary components at home, or whether it will need to bring in equipment and expertise from other countries.

The Bigger Picture

Multiple countries around the world — in Europe, Asia, and North America — are moving to extend the life of existing nuclear plants and build new ones. The drivers are familiar: the need to reduce carbon emissions, concerns about energy security following recent geopolitical tensions, and soaring electricity demand from data centres and industries switching from fossil fuels to electric power. Canada's new strategy formalises a direction the industry has been moving toward for years.

There is, however, a gap between announcing a plan and actually building something. Canada's history with nuclear construction is mixed. The country developed an effective reactor design called CANDU, but several of those reactors sold to other countries faced major cost overruns and delays. In more recent years, Canadian companies have been working on smaller, modular reactors — designs that are easier to build and finance than traditional large reactors — but these projects have moved slower than originally expected. The published summaries of Canada's new strategy do not yet clarify whether the country will rely on large traditional reactors, smaller modular designs, or a combination of both. That choice matters significantly for costs, timelines, and where plants can be located.

The goal to have construction under way by 2035 leaves only about nine years to prepare. For nuclear projects, that is a tight timeline. Before construction can begin, regulators must review and approve the design, sites must be identified and assessed, and companies must arrange contracts for all the equipment needed to build a full-size power plant. Much depends on the decisions made in the next two to three years about where plants will be sited and which reactor designs will be chosen.

The strategy is also structured in a way that raises logistical questions. The government's Natural Resources ministry will oversee implementation, but an independent nuclear safety regulator must also approve the projects. How these two branches of government will work together — and whether any shortcuts to speed up regulatory approval are planned — will be the first questions the industry asks as work begins.

The announcement is concrete and significant. Whether Canada can execute the plan on the schedule it has set is another matter entirely, and the next few years will be crucial.