# Q&A: Can Alberta power its data-centre boom with nuclear energy? > Source: > Published: 2026-07-29 12:56:41+00:00 As the world searches for more ways to power a maturing AI economy, many are looking at nuclear energy as a cleaner, more reliable solution than the fossil fuels that often power today’s data centres. Canada is no exception. Last June, the federal government announced plans to expand Canada’s nuclear footprint, which has largely been isolated in Ontario and parts of Quebec, into Western Canada and beyond. Alberta is aggressively pursuing data centre development, and that glut of projects could benefit from nuclear power. But building a nuclear ecosystem in Alberta might be easier said than done. That’s the subject of a new report by the [Information and Communications Technology Council](https://ictc-ctic.ca/) (ICTC), a non-profit research organization with a mission to strengthen the country’s digital economy. The report delves into what Alberta and the rest of Western Canada must do to lay the groundwork for a functional nuclear industry in the Prairies. *BetaKit *sat down with [Erik Henningsmoen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikhenningsmoen/), one of the contributors to the report, to talk about why energy-friendly Alberta doesn’t have a nuclear industry, and what it can do to build one. *The following interview has been edited for clarity and length. * ##### Tell us about the ICTC’s report This report began a few years ago. We were thinking of AI as it was coming out and becoming a consumer-facing product. Companies were interested in adopting it, and the big model developers were using a lot of compute to train and operate these models. We realized this was going to require a lot of digital infrastructure, and the question was: How do you power this? ##### And that’s where nuclear power comes in? As we realized there was going to be a significant demand as more data centres are located in Canada, and in Alberta, the question was: how do you meet the energy and electricity needs? Nuclear Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) were identified as a potential area to explore. ##### The timing of the report is pretty serendipitous; the Canadian government just released its [Nuclear Energy Strategy](https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-sources/nuclear-energy-uranium/nuclear-energy-strategy-canada), calling for the expansion of nuclear power and workforce development in the sector. Why is nuclear suddenly so top of mind? Nuclear has been in Canada for decades. We are one of the original nuclear powers, going back to the Second World War with [Canadian participation](https://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/resources/fact-sheets/canadas-contribution-to-nuclear-weapons-development/) in things like the Manhattan Project. It’s something that’s always existed, but mostly in Eastern Canada and Ontario. Now that you have SMRs coming online, there’s a level of maturity in the tech that can be deployed, and there’s a renewed interest in nuclear energy as a clean energy solution. RELATED: [Cohere’s Nick Frosst thinks Canadian energy can be “100 percent” renewables](https://betakit.com/coheres-nick-frosst-thinks-canadian-energy-can-be-100-percent-renewables/) ##### Why haven’t Alberta and Saskatchewan, two energy-dominant provinces, made the same inroads in nuclear energy as Ontario? * * Saskatchewan has already been a player, but more on the uranium mining side of things rather than power generation. Alberta, on the other hand, has talked about nuclear for decades, but these are very risky projects from a financial perspective. It was difficult for utilities to build new ones. If we were to have these SMRs in Western Canada, who would actually staff them? Who would build them? Who would operate them? Because in Alberta and Saskatchewan, we don’t have a legacy nuclear industry like Ontario does. You’d almost have to build a workforce from the ground up. ##### ICTC lays out some policy recommendations. How do you actually build up that workforce? I think if we are serious in Alberta and Saskatchewan about having a nuclear workforce, we must start considering establishing things like nuclear engineering programs, particularly post-graduate Master’s programs. There’s nothing like that in Western Canada; you’d have to go east to Ontario. Likewise, we should set up a talent observatory in Western Canada and really start thinking about not just the skills we need right now, but nuclear skills for the future. The other thing to consider is setting up some supporting infrastructure. Saskatchewan’s already starting to do this. They’re procuring a demonstration microreactor right now, as well as some laboratory facilities. ##### How achievable are those goals? Alberta is about five to 10 years behind Saskatchewan in its pursuit of this technology. Ontario will likely have its first SMRs online in 2035, with Saskatchewan sometime around 2040. That will give Alberta, if it pursues this seriously, a lot of experience to learn from. So, they might be able to move faster than we expect. There’s no reason it can’t happen. RELATED: [Q&A: Why Alberta’s data centre strategy is drawing the attention of tech giants like Meta](https://betakit.com/qa-why-albertas-data-centre-strategy-is-drawing-the-attention-of-tech-giants-like-meta/) ##### And what if it doesn’t happen? Then Alberta is going to be stuck recruiting folks from Ontario, which could be very difficult, as the companies there are already established and they are really world-class career opportunities. You could look internationally, but there’s a nuclear energy boom in the US, China, Europe, and the UK. We’d be competing with jurisdictions around the world. ##### How do you see these recommendations actually playing out? Is this something that will be led by the government, or does the private sector have a role? In Saskatchewan, they have a government-regulated electricity utility, SaskPower. It’s more centralized. In Alberta, it’s a much more deregulated environment, and it would most likely be a private investor that’s putting up the capital to establish these facilities. But it would take some kind of private risk-taker willing to take that on, particularly for the first one.*BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is **funded in part by YEGAF**, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.* *Feautre Image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Geoffrey Moffett.*