Tag Archives: nuclear energy

Mar 16 2026

Canada Quietly Turns Back to Nuclear as Net Zero Collides With Reality


Posted originally on Mar 16, 2026 by Martin Armstrong |  

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For years, politicians across the Western world have insisted that windmills and solar panels would power the future while reliable energy sources were dismantled in the name of climate policy. Now reality is beginning to intrude. Canada is preparing to unveil a national electricity strategy centered on expanding nuclear power as governments confront a basic problem they ignored for years — electricity demand is rising far faster than their green policies ever anticipated.

Artificial intelligence, data centers, and electrification mandates are dramatically increasing power demand across North America. At the same time, governments closed coal plants, restricted natural gas, and stalled nuclear projects for ideological reasons. The result has been rising electricity prices and growing concern about long-term energy security.

Canada is now quietly acknowledging what engineers and economists have been saying for years. Nuclear powerremains one of the few reliable baseload energy sources capable of supporting a modern industrial economy. Several new reactors are already planned or under construction, and the government’s upcoming strategy is expected to accelerate those projects.

Canada is building a new generation of nuclear reactors known as small modular reactors (SMRs). The most important project is the Darlington New Nuclear Project in Ontario. Ontario Power Generation has begun construction of the first BWRX-300 small modular reactor at the Darlington site, with the reactor expected to come online around 2029–2030.

The Darlington project is significant because it is expected to become the first grid-scale SMR operating in a G7 country. The government has approved a full fleet of four SMRs at the site, which together could produce about 1,200 megawatts of electricity — enough to power roughly 1.2 million homes. Each reactor is a GE Hitachi BWRX-300 design that produces around 300 megawatts of power and is smaller and less complex than traditional nuclear plants, which is intended to reduce construction costs and speed up deployment.

At the same time, Canada is completing major refurbishment projects on existing nuclear plants such as the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. This refurbishment extends the facility’s life for decades, preserves thousands of jobs, and continues to produce reliable baseload electricity.

Beyond individual projects, the Canadian government is preparing to release a national electricity and nuclear strategy to accelerate nuclear development and provide investors with clearer policy direction as electricity demand rises sharply.

This shift exposes the contradiction that has defined Western energy policy. Governments attempted to restructure entire energy systems based on political narratives rather than economic reality. Now they are discovering that the industrial world cannot function without stable, large-scale electricity generation. The return to nuclear is less about environmental policy and more about economic survival.

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I will be speaking in Vancouver on March 31 at the 2026 World Outlook Conference. The discussion will be tailored to the Canadian investor, as it is paramount to understand what is on the horizon. The next few years will be volatile to say the least, and the best we can do is to prepare for what is to come. I have refrained from sharing the full scope of the glaring Turning Points and Panic Cycles flashing on Socrates, but I am prepared to give attendees the full story.

Jan 21 2026

Germany’s Merz Admits to “Serious Strategic Mistake”


Posted originally on Jan 21, 2026 by Martin Armstrong |  

Phasing out nuclear energy was a “serious strategic mistake,” admits German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “It was a serious strategic mistake to exit nuclear energy,” Merz said. “If you were going to do it, you should have at least kept the last remaining nuclear power plants in Germany on the grid three years ago, so that we would have had the same electricity generation capacity.”

Repeatedly, I warned that Germany was committing economic suicide by adhering to the climate change anti-fossil fuel agenda and blindly agreeing to cut off Russian imports. “We’re now making the most expensive energy transition in the entire world. I don’t know of a second country that makes it as difficult and as expensive for itself as Germany does. We set ourselves a goal that we now have to correct, but we simply don’t have enough energy generation capacity,” Merz continued.

Granted, most of the Christian Democratic Union was in favor of nuclear power. Merkel, Merz’s political rival, set Germany’s energy crisis in motion through abhorrent policies. Between the COVID lockdowns, then the Climate Change and NET ZERO regulations, on top of that, the Russian sanctions to cut off energy purchases, the most crucial economy within Europe has been sabotaged by the politicians who are mindless and lack any understanding of how the world economy functions, not to mention their own.

On March 11, 2011, when an earthquake-triggered tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, Chancellor Merkel and her cabinet held that nuclear power in Germany had to come to an end. It was a historic event and a historic decision (see Der Spiegel). The new green deal of Merkel quickly became bogged down in the details of German reality and the impracticability of the whole idea. The so-called Energiewende, the shift away from nuclear in favor of renewables, was a major project that was up there with Germany’s reunification.

Germany was then heavily relying on coal, but government is aiming to phase it out by 2038, with some politicians believing it can be done by 2030. Germany officially closed its last nuclear power plant in April 2023, naturally, reliance on fossil fuels increased.

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Recall that in February 2022, former US President Joe Biden and then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a joint press conference where they subtly threatened Nord Stream 2, the continent’s main supplier of Russian oil. “If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, then there will be, there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Biden stated during the joint press conference with Scholz. “I promise you, we will be able to do it.” The neocons hailed the destruction a victory but the true victim was Germany. Biden admitted that there would be a “temporary” energy price increase due to Russian sanctions at the time. “Defending freedom will have costs for us as well, and here at home. We need to be honest about that,” Biden stated to deflect the blame. CNN even reported the decision as an economically masochistic act, “The West showed Tuesday it was ready to target Russia’s huge energy industry — even at the risk of hurting itself — after Moscow ordered troops into parts of eastern Ukraine.”

Trump called Ukraine the wall between Russia and Europe and stated that America had become the “sucker country” by shelling out millions to Ukraine when they received far less in return. He warned Europe that their reliance on Russian imported energy would spell disaster and went as far as declaring that Germany was “totally controlled by Russia.” Instead of looking for energy alternatives, Germany went through with the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline and wasted billions as sanctions were implemented before the pipeline was fully functional.

Germany now relies on expensive renewables through wind and solar for over 60% of energy demand. Oil drives 36% of demand currently, and while renewables are rapidly expanding, it remains to be seen whether Germany can run on 80% renewables by 2030. Merz is not advocating reopening the plants as “nuclear” fears have a chokehold on voters, but he is considering small modular reactors, which simply are not sufficient to meet demand. Bad policies can quickly cripple an economy.