3 Nuclear ETFs to Watch as U.S. Policy Sparks a Surge

Key Points

• The Trump administration has made numerous moves in recent weeks to encourage development in the domestic nuclear energy space.
• Investors seeking broad exposure to nuclear energy as the regulatory landscape shifts toward the more favorable might look to ETFs.
• Funds like URNM, URA, and NUKZ offer different approaches to companies involved in nuclear energy, but each has a recent history of impressive performance.

While investors have generally been cautious regarding green energy since the presidential election last November, the Trump administration has recently provided multiple signals that it intends to boost domestic nuclear energy by a significant amount. In May, the president signed a series of executive orders aiming to facilitate the construction of nuclear plants on public lands, grow U.S. uranium mining operations, and, controversially, revisit exposure limits for ionizing radiation.

The exact impact of these orders remains to be seen, but investors have good reason now to expect movement in companies linked to nuclear energy, particularly amid rising demand related to AI usage. Individual pure-play stocks like Denison Mines Corp. TSE: DML and even larger energy firms with a nuclear arm such as PG&E Corp. NYSE: PCG could benefit from recent government action.

But investors may not wish to make a bet on individual companies while the regulatory landscape is shifting so dramatically. Instead, a number of high-quality nuclear energy exchange-traded funds (ETFs) provide a diversified alternative and excellent, broad exposure to the industry.

This Uranium ETF Offers Growth and Dividends Too

Though it's down more than 2% in the last year, the Sprott Uranium Miners ETF NYSEARCA: URNM has surged by nearly 19% in the past month. With roughly 36 holdings, URNM is one of the more consolidated portfolios among the relatively small number of nuclear energy ETFs available.

As such, investors should expect that a small number of positions will occupy outsized portions of the fund, the top two names are roughly 30% of invested assets, for example.

As a uranium miners fund, URNM provides exposure to one corner of the broader nuclear energy space. The fund sets itself apart by investing a sizable portion of its asset base, nearly 12%, in the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, a fund dedicated to holding physical uranium.

Investors should also note that not every company in URNM's portfolio is exclusively dedicated to uranium mining; the fund's target index aims to include companies devoting at least 50% of their assets to the uranium mining industry.

URNM's mix of assets allows it to pay an attractive dividend yield of 3.13%, making it a good choice for investors seeking both capital appreciation and passive income potential. And with an expense ratio of 0.75%, URNM is solidly in the middle when it comes to fees across the nuclear energy fund space.

Global X Uranium ETF Powers Ahead With 29% Gain

The Global X Uranium ETF NYSEARCA: URA has outperformed URNM above with one-year returns near 9% and a rally of 29% in the last month. It also enjoys substantially higher trading volumes, with a one-month average of more than 3.6 million shares. URA has close to 50 holdings and is not limited to uranium mining firms, although it is highly concentrated, with the top position occupying nearly a quarter of the portfolio.

URA may be among the best options for exposure to the broad uranium industry, including both mining firms and companies involved in designing and building nuclear energy components. It has a focus across developed markets, so companies in countries heavily involved in the industry, including Canada and South Korea, among others, have prominent positions.

Investors might need to know that URA has a history of fairly wide price swings, including a drop of roughly 50% from November 2024 through April 2025. Still, its expense ratio of 0.69% makes it one of the cheapest ETFs to focus exclusively on the nuclear energy space.

This Nuclear ETF Is Quietly Crushing the Market

With an even more impressive return of 54% in the last year (and a very strong 21% boost in the past month), the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF NYSEARCA: NUKZ targets a slightly different space than the two funds above. NUKZ is focused on companies operating within the advanced reactor, utilities, construction & services, and fuel industries. Its 45-holding portfolio is similarly focused, but assets are distributed somewhat more evenly across these positions: the largest holding is under 10% for NUKZ.

NUKZ also has the advantage of a truly global focus, although its relatively smaller asset base and trading volume may offset this in comparison with URNM and URA. Investors should also not expect much by way of dividend payments from NUKZ, and its fee is slightly higher at 0.85%. Still, if it can maintain recent momentum, these other factors may not matter much to investors.