Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Tim Gitzel, Cameco CEO, at the large nuclear announcement on Sept. 29, 2026. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
SASKATOON – There are two leading competitors to provide the two large, 1000-megawatt scale nuclear reactors the Government of Saskatchewan said on Sept. 29 they intend on building. One of those competitors is Westinghouse, who in 2023 was purchased out of bankruptcy by Brookfield Asset Management (51 per cent) and Cameco (49 per cent). Cameco is the Saskatoon-based uranium miner with major operations in northern Saskatchewan.
Westinghouse is in the process of preparing for an initial public offering (IPO). Additionally, the day after this event, President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with South Korea that indicated the United States would be building six Westinghouse AP1000s and two APR1400s, a Korean model based on the Westinghouse design. The total investment, including contingency, is expected to be US$120 billion, and average of US$15 billion per reactor. Trump also indicated South Korea was expected to take a small ownership stake in Westinghouse as well.
Seated near the front was Cameco CEO Tim Gizel. Pipeline Online and another reporter spoke to him immediately after the announcement. Here’s that conversation, followed by the press release from Cameco on the Korean deal:
Pipeline Online:
What are your thoughts of today?
Tim Gitzel:
Well, I thought it was a great announcement for Saskatchewan. You know, I’ve been involved in the nuclear business my whole life in Saskatchewan, so I’ve been over 45 years, mostly in the front end of the business, the nuclear fuel side, and always hoping someday this announcement would come that Saskatchewan would build nuclear power. And so we got it today. We’ve positioned our company to be ready for this day. We’ve got the fuel ready. We’ve got a reactor ready to build. It’s being built in 14 different places right now. There’s six operating, and so we’re ready to go.
Pipeline Online:
So Westinghouse is a leading candidate for this. You currently, before any IPO, own 49 per cent. How important is that when you’re talking to the province, saying, “Hey, by the way, you know, we’re headquartered in Saskatchewan.”
Tim Gitzel:
Well, it’s super important. I mean, they know us. The premier knows us. We know the government. I think they trust us for all the years of operation, our commitment to Saskatchewan, Northern Saskatchewan Indigenous people. I mean, we’re headquartered. I live here, 306. If you want to see my cell phone, 306 are the first numbers, and so we’re here, and we expect to play a huge role in the build out of nuclear in Saskatchewan.
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Pipeline Online:
Can you talk at all to the price of what an AP1000 is going to be?
Tim Gitzel:
Not yet. The premier put out some numbers. There are numbers, I mean, we’ll have to see the site. It’ll be site specific, and the other piece is there’s other jurisdictions building now, and so it’s like when you put IKEA furniture together. The first one takes you about a month, and you get better at it over time. So we saw from the Vogtle units in Augusta, Georgia, that between the first unit that was built and the second one, there was 20 to 30 per cent time saving and 20 to 30 per cent cost saving on that. We expect that to continue.
FILE – Reactors for Unit 3 and 4 sit at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant on Jan. 20, 2023, in Waynesboro, Ga., with the cooling towers of older Units 1 and 2 billowing steam in the background. Company officials announced Wednesday, May 24, 2023, that Unit 3 would reach full power in coming days, after years of delays and billions in cost overruns. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Pipeline Online:
So we can’t talk to dollars. Can we talk a time? The premier calls you up, says, “Okay, we’re going ahead.” From that phone call to putting electrons on the grid, how long?
Tim Gitzel:
Yeah, so we talk about a 10 year period. I mean, we have a product that’s ready. It doesn’t have to be designed. It’s fuel ready. It’s design ready. It’s been licensed in the U.S. The Canadian government is looking at it. So we’ll be the first off the mark if they pick our reactors.
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Reporter A:
I guess what does nuclear power here at home mean for jobs, investment in Saskatchewan?
Tim Gitzel:
Well, it’s huge. I mean, imagine a province that wants to go with nuclear that has a tradition of 50 years of nuclear already, and a company head ported right here, not a kilometre from here, downtown Saskatoon: Cameco. We have thousands of people at work here that are in nuclear. We’ve got 70 to 80 percent of the population supports nuclear, so we’ve got a great head start here in Saskatchewan.
Reporter A:
Like you said, you know we’ve been producing uranium in Saskatchewan for decades. I guess why does it make sense now to start producing power with nuclear power in the near future?
Tim Gitzel:
Yeah, so it’s what the premier said. You know, the world needs electricity. We need to double the amount of electricity in the world in the next 25 years. So that means we have to keep all the electricity we have today everything, whatever source it comes from, and double it. And so, people are looking and saying, “What are our options?” Coal, okay, yep, we’re going to keep that going. Gas for sure, wind, solar, and they’ve had another look at nuclear and said, “We have to have nuclear, 24/7, 365 reliable power.”
It’s got to play a role, and Saskatchewan’s got a huge advantage, as far as that goes.
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Pipeline Online:
Can you talk to the fuel cycle for the AP1000 because it’s not using natural uranium. So everyone understands Cameco mines uranium. Can you explain the fuel cycle? If you were to build AP1000s what happens after you mine?
Tim Gitzel:
So we start with natural uranium. Obviously, uranium from Saskatchewan would be used. We have the refinery in Blind River that we would send it to, then we’d send it for conversion at Port Hope, Ontario. So it’s all in Canada. Then it needs enrichment. Canada, so far, doesn’t have enrichment, even though the new Darlington SMR reactor will need enrichment. And if we build that same reactor in Estevan, that will need enrichment. So if we build the AP1000s, they’ll require enriched uranium as well. So right now you can get that done in Europe, three different countries in Europe, the United States, it can be done as well.
And I can tell you, Cameco, should Ontario and Canada decide to build out a fleet of AP 1000s, Cameco would be looking at building enrichment in Canada as well.
Pipeline Online:
Can we do that under nuclear arms treaties?
Tim Gitzel:
We would have to get some approvals from the countries that have that right already, but it could be done.
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Cameco acknowledges United States and Republic of Korea announcement of Framework for the Deployment of Nuclear Power
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, September 30, 2026
All amounts in Canadian dollars unless specified otherwise.
Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) acknowledges that the United States of America (“USG”) and the Republic of Korea (“Korea”), under a previously entered Memorandum of Understanding (the “MOU”), today announced a framework that anticipates the investment by Korea of US$120 billion to help finance the buildout of Westinghouse reactor technology in the US using expertise and companies from both nations (the “Framework”).
The Framework, which is separate and unrelated to the Department of Energy’s American Nuclear Supply Chain Loans conditional commitment, contemplates the construction of up to eight large nuclear reactors in the United States, including six Westinghouse AP1000® reactors and up to two Korean APR1400 reactors that are built on Westinghouse technology. If successfully concluded, both technologies are expected to be deployed on federal sites designated by the USG, beginning with the deployment of two AP1000 reactors, contributing to the expansion of clean, reliable and domestically produced nuclear energy generation capacity.
Building upon the strategic partnership announcement between Cameco, Brookfield Asset Management and the United States Department of Commerce in October 2025 (the “Partnership”), this Framework outlines a potential funding and execution pathway for the construction of new nuclear reactors in the United States under the Partnership. The Framework is subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements, identification of planning of specific sites, regulatory approvals, financing arrangements, other customary conditions, and the finalization of definitive agreements under the Partnership.
The Framework contemplates a waiver under the 2025 settlement agreement reached by Westinghouse in its intellectual property dispute with Korea Electric Power Corporation and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. The one-time waiver would allow for the construction of up to two APR1400 reactors in the United States, generating enhanced value for Westinghouse. The associated compensation package is expected to recognize the use of Westinghouse intellectual property and technology, providing approximately US$2 billion of value per APR1400 reactor through a combination of intellectual property licensing, engineering and procurement services, subcontracting opportunities and the long-term supply of fuel fabrication services, highlighting the strategic role that Westinghouse is expected to play across the contemplated reactor projects in the US.
The Framework also includes a potential equity investment by Korea in Westinghouse. Any such investment would remain subject to definitive agreements, due diligence, corporate approvals and regulatory approvals. Cameco does not expect any potential equity participation contemplated under the Framework to affect our ownership interest in Westinghouse.
“We are pleased to see the US government continuing on a path to expanding nuclear power capacity in the US,” said Tim Gitzel, CEO of Cameco. “Cameco remains focused on supporting the US government’s objective of quadrupling US civil nuclear capacity by 2050, using the industry-leading, fully licensed, generation III+ AP1000 reactor. Our priority continues to be on the Department of Energy’s American Nuclear Supply Chain Loans conditional commitment, under which AP1000 reactor construction timelines are expected to accelerate by as much as three years, along with the strengthening of the nuclear supply chain. New orders for AP1000 reactors, such as those envisioned by this Framework, represent an excellent opportunity to further derisk and accelerate the rapid buildout of the AP1000 fleet around the world.”
Terms of the Framework are non-binding and are subject to final negotiations.