Canada Courts Türkiye on Nuclear Cooperation, Testing Energy and Alliance Politics
Canada’s foreign minister has floated deeper nuclear energy cooperation with Türkiye, pointing to the global spread of Canadian-designed CANDU reactors and delivering a letter on the issue from Ottawa’s energy minister. The outreach could reshape Ankara’s nuclear mix and add a new layer to ties between two NATO allies that often clash on defense exports and regional policy.
Canada is quietly positioning itself as a bigger player in Türkiye’s nuclear future, a move that could redraw both countries’ energy calculations and add a new dimension to already complicated alliance politics. Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Ottawa wants to see “further cooperation, particularly in nuclear energy,” noting that Canadian‑designed CANDU reactors operate from Argentina to Romania and confirming she had delivered a letter on the subject from Canada’s energy minister to her Turkish counterpart.
Speaking about nuclear cooperation with Türkiye, Anand described Canada as an “energy superpower” and highlighted the global footprint of CANDU technology, of which Canada remains the license holder. That choice of words signals not only commercial ambition but an intent to frame nuclear exports as a strategic tool, at a time when many countries are looking to expand low‑carbon baseload power without becoming overly dependent on Russian or Chinese designs.
For Türkiye, the offer intersects with an already crowded nuclear agenda. Ankara is building its first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu using Russian Rosatom reactors under a build‑own‑operate model, and has discussed additional projects with a range of partners, including South Korea and China. Introducing Canadian technology into that mix could diversify suppliers, complicate fuel and regulatory arrangements, and give Türkiye more leverage in negotiating terms across multiple vendors.
The stakes go beyond kilowatt hours. Türkiye sits at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and the Black Sea, with ambitions to be an energy hub for gas and electricity. Nuclear capacity can underpin those ambitions by providing steady power and freeing up more gas for export. At the same time, every major nuclear deal comes with long‑term training, maintenance and regulatory ties that bind supplier and buyer together for decades.
For Canada, deepening cooperation with Ankara would mean closer engagement with a NATO ally that has been both partner and spoiler. Türkiye has clashed with Ottawa over arms‑export controls tied to the use of Canadian technology in Turkish drones, and has used its leverage inside the alliance on issues from Nordic enlargement to defense industry rules. A nuclear partnership could create new channels for dialogue — and new points of dependency in both directions.
Allies will also weigh the proliferation and safety dimensions. CANDU reactors are heavy‑water designs that can use natural uranium and, if misused, can complicate safeguards, although export versions are subject to International Atomic Energy Agency oversight. While Türkiye remains a signatory to key nonproliferation treaties and has not signaled interest in nuclear weapons, any expansion of its nuclear capabilities will be scrutinized in neighboring capitals already wary of regional arms races.
The timing is notable, coming as Türkiye prepares to host a NATO summit in Ankara with a “special agenda” on the defense industry, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Nuclear cooperation talks could easily bleed into parallel conversations about defense technology, export controls and industrial offsets, turning civilian energy decisions into bargaining chips in a wider negotiation over Türkiye’s role and obligations inside the alliance.
Signals to watch next include whether Ottawa and Ankara announce formal feasibility studies or memoranda of understanding on specific reactor projects; how Russia and other nuclear vendors react to the prospect of Canadian competition in Türkiye; and whether nuclear cooperation surfaces in side‑meetings around the NATO summit, where it could either smooth or further complicate already delicate defense‑industry discussions.
Sources
- OSINT