Canada does not enrich uranium on a massive commercial scale for geopolitical, historical, and economic reasons, despite being one of the world's leading suppliers of mined raw uranium ore through massive deposits in regions like northern Saskatchewan. Historically, Canada participated in early atomic research and possessed the technical capacity, but it strategically chose to focus its domestic nuclear fuel cycle capabilities on mining, refining, and manufacturing natural uranium fuel bundles specifically tailored for its homegrown CANDU reactor design. Because CANDU reactors utilize heavy water moderation, they possess the unique engineering advantage of operating efficiently on unenriched, natural uranium fuel. Consequently, building multi-billion-dollar commercial enrichment facilities was historically deemed unnecessary for domestic power generation, leaving nations with light-water reactor fleets to manage the primary global enrichment market share.