NLR vs TNUK

NLRAVanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF

TNUKCTortoise Nuclear Renaissance 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.

TNUK Most nuclear funds stop at the uranium miners. TNUK buys the whole chain: the diggers, the reactor designers and builders, and the crews that operate them, anywhere in the world. A December 2025 arrival priced right at the category midpoint.

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.

TNUK The Fund seeks total return by investing in companies across the nuclear energy value chain, including uranium mining and milling, reactor design and construction, and nuclear reactor operation and maintenance.

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

• TNUK Covers the full nuclear value chain: uranium mining and milling, reactor design and construction, and reactor operation and maintenance, not just the fuel end.
• The 0.75% expense ratio sits exactly at the median for uranium and nuclear funds, and under Range's NUKZ at 0.85%.
• Global by mandate, which matters when much of the reactor-building and utility side of the industry sits outside the US.
• Plain equity fund in a standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper. No leverage, no swaps, no outcome period to track.

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

• TNUK Launched in December 2025, so there is no long track record, and it is a small fund next to category veterans like URA and NLR.
• Trades lightly compared with the category's heavyweights, so spreads can be wide and limit orders do real work here.
• The mandate is total return, and the fund has not been making distributions. Income is not the job.

Full NLR profile⁠

Full TNUK profile⁠