Power Plays: How Energy Sovereignty Is Powering Our Thesis on Cameco
The world has changed. In the wake of a global pandemic and the outbreak of major conflict in Europe, the tectonic plates of geopolitics are shifting. Alliances once thought unbreakable have fractured. The global chessboard is being reset in real time, and nations are scrambling to ensure they control their own pieces.
Amid this reshuffling, one concept has risen to the forefront: energy sovereignty. That phrase might earn you 28 points in Scrabble, but in the real world of global strategy, its value is immeasurable. Energy sovereignty is a nation’s ability to secure its own energy supply—free from the leverage, instability, or political whims of foreign powers, particularly those whose interests may diverge dramatically from its own.
And let’s be clear: “energy supply” isn’t just a technical term—it’s the lifeblood of modern civilization. It powers the ventilators in hospitals, the heating systems in our schools, and the data centers behind our banking and communications infrastructure. From refrigerated food chains to the lights in our homes, energy is the invisible foundation of daily life. To talk about securing energy is to talk about securing society itself.
Ensuring that a country controls this foundation sounds straightforward, even self-evident. But the past few years have laid bare just how fragile the global energy system truly is. Traditional energy sources—oil, gas, and coal—are geographically concentrated, and this concentration creates natural chokepoints. It hands immense strategic power to a handful of states, enabling everything from price manipulation to outright geopolitical coercion.
A Cautionary Tale—and the Limits of Alternatives
One need only look to Germany for a stark cautionary tale. For decades, it built its industrial might on a foundation of cheap natural gas piped in from Russia. This strategy imploded in February 2022. As Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Berlin found itself in an impossible position: defending democratic values was now directly at odds with keeping its citizens warm and its factories running. This wasn’t just poor planning; it was a catastrophic failure of sovereign foresight.
The rest of the world took notice. The assumption that global energy delivery would always be stable and “just in time” no longer holds. The era of blind trust in energy interdependence is over.
Naturally, many look to renewables like solar and wind as the path to sovereignty. And while they are a critical part of the future energy mix, they come with their own significant limitations. The sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow. Their intermittency poses a fundamental challenge to grid stability. A modern economy requires a constant, reliable source of baseload power—the minimum level of electricity supply needed 24/7.
And the supply chains behind renewables aren’t exactly sovereign, either. A significant share of the world’s solar panels, batteries, and wind turbine components are manufactured in China. Swapping a dependence on Russian hydrocarbons for a dependence on Chinese manufacturing and rare earth metals may solve one problem only to create another.
The Nuclear Solution: Dense, Clean, and Sovereign
This is where uranium and nuclear power enter the picture.
Nuclear offers a rare trifecta of benefits that align perfectly with the demands of this new energy era:
- Zero-Carbon Baseload Power
Nuclear is the only carbon-free energy source capable of delivering consistent, 24/7 power. With a capacity factor exceeding 90%, it dwarfs solar (25%) and wind (35%) in reliability. - Unmatched Energy Density
A uranium fuel pellet the size of a gummy bear contains the energy equivalent of one ton of coal, 149 gallons of oil, or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. This extraordinary energy density has enormous logistical and strategic implications. Fewer than a dozen ships could carry enough uranium to meet all of Europe’s annual energy needs. - The Ultimate Energy Stockpile
And here lies the heart of energy sovereignty. A nuclear plant is refueled only once every 18–24 months. A nation can easily stockpile years—if not decades—of uranium supply, insulating itself from global disruptions. You can’t stockpile wind. You can’t stockpile sunshine. And storing gas at scale is technically and financially complex. Uranium, by contrast, offers true strategic reserve capability.
We believe this combination of reliability, energy density, and stockpiling potential is already driving a global nuclear renaissance. And that brings us to our investment: Cameco (TSX: CCO, NYSE: CCJ).
Why Cameco? The Right Asset in the Right Place at the Right Time
Cameco is one of the largest publicly traded uranium producers in the world, headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In a world increasingly focused on secure supply, Cameco stands out.
- Geopolitical Stability
Canada remains one of the world’s most attractive jurisdictions for mining, with a stable democracy and strong rule of law. As Western utilities and governments move to displace supply from Russia and Kazakhstan, Canada stands out as the premier alternative. - World-Class Assets
Cameco operates some of the world’s richest uranium deposits, including the legendary McArthur River and Cigar Lake mines. These high-grade assets allow for lower-cost production and superior resilience across commodity cycles. - Vertically Integrated Capabilities – and Proof of Concept
When we first invested in Cameco, we viewed its 49% stake in Westinghouse Electric Company (alongside Brookfield’s 51% stake) as a strategic masterstroke—a move that vertically integrated Cameco across the entire nuclear value chain, from uranium mining to fuel fabrication and reactor design.
That integration has now proven its worth. In late 2025, Westinghouse signed a binding term sheet with the U.S. government to develop and finance at least US$80 billion worth of AP1000 reactors on American soil—reactors intended to power the exploding demand from AI data centers and advanced manufacturing. The deal effectively positions Westinghouse, and by extension Cameco, at the heart of the West’s nuclear expansion supported by both Washington and Tokyo.
It’s exactly the kind of downstream leverage we hoped Cameco would unlock—but at a scale few imagined. By owning part of the world’s premier nuclear engineering firm, Cameco has been pulled into the center of the most consequential energy buildout in a generation.
In an era when even close allies may change course overnight, true national security increasingly depends on self-reliant energy infrastructure. That makes uranium no longer just a commodity—it is now a geopolitical asset.
With Cameco at the center of this transformation, we’re confident in our position and excited for the road ahead.
Ian Hardacre, CFA, MBA
SVP, Head of Public Markets
Michael Cannon, CFA
Investment Analyst, Public Markets