As year-end economic forecasts for Canada often carry a tone of concern, a standout success story emerges from the prairies. Saskatoon-based Cameco Corporation, the globe's largest publicly traded uranium company with a market valuation nearing US$40 billion, is demonstrating remarkable resilience and growth. This resurgence is largely powered by a surging American appetite for nuclear energy, marking a dramatic turnaround from the industry's prolonged downturn.
Surviving the Nuclear Winter
CEO Tim Gitzel refers to the period following the March 11, 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan as the "nuclear depression." The catastrophic event sent shockwaves through the industry, causing uranium prices to plummet from $73 US to a mere $17. "We went through 10 years, counting pencils," Gitzel recalls soberly, highlighting an era of severe austerity where even office coffee became a cost to be managed.
This stark contrast to the "glory days" of 2007-2011, when new mines were launching, forged a culture of humility and operational discipline within the company. That hard-won resilience is now paying dividends as global dynamics have shifted powerfully in nuclear power's favour.
The Perfect Storm for a Renaissance
The company's fortunes began to pivot around 2020, as climate change and the global "race to net zero" brought nuclear energy back into the clean energy conversation. The demand for reliable, carbon-free power to fuel electric vehicles and widespread electrification created a new narrative.
This momentum was supercharged by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which abruptly reframed nuclear power as a critical matter of energy security and national security. "Today," Gitzel reports, "there aren't very many countries in the world that aren't looking at the nuclear option." This includes both traditional large reactors and new small modular reactors (SMRs).
A Vertically Integrated Giant with Saskatchewan Roots
Now leading a vertically integrated nuclear powerhouse, Gitzel oversees uranium operations across northern Saskatchewan, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kazakhstan, and Australia. The company holds the distinction of being Canada's largest industrial employer of Indigenous people, anchoring its operations deeply in its home province.
The core of the current boom lies in fundamental supply and demand. Gitzel underscores a pivotal fact: The United States operates 94 nuclear plants that consume roughly 50 million pounds of uranium annually but produce none domestically. "They need us," he states plainly, acknowledging but downplaying concerns about potential trade tariffs given the strategic nature of the supply relationship.
From the depths of a decade-long depression to positioning at the epicenter of a global clean energy and security shift, Cameco's journey mirrors the evolving story of nuclear power itself—once feared, now seen by many as an indispensable tool for a stable, low-carbon future.
