NLR vs NUKX

NLRAVanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF

NUKXDNicholas Nuclear Income ETF

In short

NLR The original nuclear ETF, listed since 2007. NLR owns the whole chain (uranium miners, reactor builders, nuclear utilities, and the equipment firms serving them) at a lower fee than most of its rivals.

NUKX Uranium and nuclear stocks with a paycheck bolted on. NUKX puts capital appreciation first and current income second, a combination the pure-play miner funds skip. Launched in 2026, it is still a small, lightly traded newcomer.

Stated mandate

NLR The fund seeks to track the MVIS Global Uranium & Nuclear Energy Index before fees and expenses. The index covers companies involved in uranium mining, nuclear-facility and reactor construction, engineering and maintenance, nuclear electricity generation, and nuclear-industry equipment, technology, or services.

NUKX The fund seeks capital appreciation as its primary objective and current income as its secondary objective.

Why people hold it

• NLR At 0.52% a year it undercuts the typical uranium and nuclear fund, and both URA (0.69%) and URNM (0.75%).
• Not just diggers: the index spans uranium mining, reactor construction and engineering, nuclear electricity generation, and the equipment and services suppliers behind them.vaneck.com
• A purity screen keeps it honest: index members must draw at least half their revenue from uranium and nuclear energy, so no loosely related mega-cap filler.marketvector.com
• Trading since August 2007, well before URA (2010) and the newer nuclear funds. It has lived through the theme's full boom-to-bust-to-revival cycle.stockanalysis.com

• NUKX Unusual wiring for the theme: current income is a stated secondary objective in the fund's own documents, not an afterthought to a price-only mandate.
• Holds roughly 60 stocks, so the outcome rides on a basket of nuclear and uranium names rather than one reactor builder or one mine.
• Plain 1940 Act ETF wrapper, no commodity trust or partnership quirks, with distributions paid on a recurring schedule instead of accruing quietly in the share price.

Worth knowing

• NLR Around 29 holdings in a single theme. Concentration cuts both ways, and one company's news can swing the fund.
• Utilities and industrials in the mix soften the direct link to uranium prices that a miners-only fund like URNM gives you.
• Global by design, so foreign listings, currency moves, and overseas policy decisions all feed into returns.vaneck.com

• NUKX The 1.07% fee sits above the typical uranium and nuclear ETF and roughly double the group's cheapest option (NLR at 0.52%). Income has to clear that bar first.
• Small asset base and light trading volume, which typically means wider spreads. Limit orders matter more here than in the category's household names.
• Launched in 2026 with no published tracking index, so there is little history to judge and no rules-based benchmark to measure the manager against.

Full NLR profile⁠

Full NUKX profile⁠