NLR vs NUKZ

NLRAVanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF

NUKZCRange Nuclear Renaissance Index 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.

NUKZ A 2024-vintage, rules-based take on the nuclear buildout: one purpose-built index covering the uranium-and-reactor theme in a plain equity ETF. It prices above the category median, but its portfolio build sits in the upper half of the pack.

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.

NUKZ The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index.

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

• NUKZ Pure index mechanics. It tracks the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index before fees and expenses, so holdings follow published rules rather than a manager's discretion.
• Portfolio construction and risk profile both land in the upper half of the uranium and nuclear cohort, the sturdier side of a famously jumpy category.
• Straightforward plumbing: stocks in a standard 1940 Act fund wrapper, not a physical uranium trust or a futures structure.
• Live since January 2024 and now carries real assets with steady day-to-day volume, not the thin tape many thematic launches never grow out of.

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

• NUKZ It charges 0.85% a year, above the median for nuclear and uranium funds and well above the cheapest peer in the group, NLR at 0.52%.
• One theme, one corner of energy, and a 2024 start date. There is no long record here across a full market cycle.
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year. This is built as a thematic equity holding, not an income stream.

Full NLR profile⁠

Full NUKZ profile⁠