OTTAWA — The U.S. government sees the Canadian-owned Westinghouse nuclear company as a tool of American influence, federal officials have warned Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson.

“The U.S. government continues to actively promote the adoption of Westinghouse technology abroad, including in Canada, and considers Westinghouse a key U.S. strategic asset regardless of its ownership structure,” said a briefing note prepared for Hodgson last summer. The Logic obtained a copy through an access-to-information request.

Westinghouse Electric Company is the nuclear business long ago spun out of the Westinghouse industrial conglomerate. Investment giant Brookfield—whose parent company is based in Toronto, though its main subsidiary Brookfield Asset Management officially moved its head office to New York in 2024—owns 51 per cent. Saskatchewan uranium mining company Cameco owns the other 49 per cent.

Brookfield bought the nuclear company out of bankruptcy protection after disastrous projects in the United States endangered its last corporate parent, Toshiba, in 2017. The investment firm sold Cameco its piece in 2023. Westinghouse’s headquarters remains in Cranberry Township, Pa.

Hodgson was set to meet Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel on July 29 and the department was readying the minister to receive a sales pitch.

As Canadian provinces look to nuclear energy to power electrified economies—from heavy industry to data centres—Westinghouse is proposing its AP1000 reactors in Canada as an alternative to Candu Monark reactors from Montreal-based AtkinsRéalis. Westinghouse has been signing up Canadian suppliers and opened an engineering hub in Kitchener, Ont., last year.

“This is our ‘Buy Where We Build’ philosophy in action, ensuring that Canadians benefit directly from AP1000 plants built in Canada,” Westinghouse said in a statement to The Logic relayed through spokesperson Oliveah Numan.

Without the authors ever saying so outright—at least, in the somewhat redacted version the government released—the briefing note suggests Hodgson’s department is skeptical.

“Despite Canadian ownership, the company’s supply chain, technical knowledge and capabilities for its reactors remain largely based in the U.S., and export of the technology still requires U.S. approval,” the note said, with the bolding in the original.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the entity controlling the export of much U.S. physical nuclear equipment. Canada has similar rules. Westinghouse told The Logic that licensing the intellectual property for Canadian and other non-U.S. customers’ use means “plant owners have operational autonomy for long-term and safe plant performance.”

Since Hodgson got the briefing note, Brookfield, Cameco and Westinghouse have struck a deal with the U.S. government to trade a cut of Westinghouse’s cash distributions, and potentially a 20 per cent stake in the company, for “financial, regulatory, policy and diplomatic support” in building more Westinghouse reactors.

In mid-December President Donald Trump invited Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico to sign an agreement in the U.S. in 2026 that would pave the way for Fico’s country to buy Westinghouse AP1000s for a major new nuclear plant. Fico posted the invitation from Trump on Facebook, including a passage about Slovakia buying “American technology.”

Whereas Candu reactors are Canadian to the core, the briefing note said: “Many aspects of the Candu system… were historically based on principles of Canadian energy independence, particularly from the U.S.” Indeed, the federal government owns the Candu intellectual property and AtkinsRéalis licenses it exclusively, calling itself the technology’s steward.

All of the 17 large power-generating reactors in the country now are older-model Candus; one is in New Brunswick, the rest in Ontario. But there are billions of dollars in new business in the offing: Ontario is in the market for more large reactors and hasn’t decided whose. And while Energy Alberta, a private company, is proposing to build two Candu reactors near Peace River, the same company is also kicking tires on Westinghouse’s AP1000.

Westinghouse might make a case for competition among suppliers being good for Canadian buyers, the note said, but all those Candu reactors already splitting atoms in Canada are significant: “Globally, mixed reactor fleets have presented operational challenges, such as the need for different fuel types and varying waste disposal requirements, often resulting in inefficiencies and higher costs to taxpayers.”

Westinghouse has one definite ace in its hand: it has six AP1000 reactors in commercial operation already, while the Monark remains on the drawing board.

“As a complete, fully designed technology with a proven licensing strategy, the AP1000 can be deployed in Canada at a much faster speed and without [“first of a kind”] risks, which ultimately make it more affordable and competitive,” Westinghouse’s statement to The Logic said.

Canada has backed both companies, including through a $304-million loan to AtkinsRéalis to support development of the Monark reactor design and a “letter of interest” for more than $2 billion in financing for AP1000 technology for a new nuclear plant in Poland.