Nuclear ETF NUKZ Up 52% as AI Power Demand Outruns the US Grid

Nuclear ETF NUKZ Up 52% as AI Power Demand Outruns the US Grid Surging data-center electricity load is pulling traders into a nuclear buildout that Barclays says still costs more than power is worth. NUKZ, a nuclear-focused exchange-traded fund, has returned about 52% over the past year and roughly 11% year to date through late May 2026, with shares near $71.⁴ The fund carries a 0.85% expense ratio and about $841 million in assets, small but no longer micro.⁴ The pull is electricity demand. US power generation from data centers is projected to climb from roughly 5% of the total to about 15% over five years, a step change on a grid that has barely grown since 2000.⁴ That math has capital rotating into any company that can credibly supply baseload clean power to hyperscalers, with nuclear near the top of the stack.¹ Microsoft signed a 20-year, 835 MW power-purchase agreement with Constellation Energy in September 2024 to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1, a $1.6 billion project targeting a 2027 startup.⁴ The deal priced the first US nuclear restart of the AI era and set a floor for what hyperscalers will pay for guaranteed round-the-clock carbon-free power.⁴ The physical case is density. A 1 GW reactor occupies a fraction of the land of an equivalent solar build and runs at capacity factors above 90%.⁴ For anyone pricing long-duration power offtake, that reliability matters more than the sticker cost. The bull case meets a cost wall. Barclays says both conventional nuclear and small modular reactor costs "exceed the market price for power."³ Washington wants to quadruple US nuclear capacity from roughly 100 GW in 2024 to 400 GW by 2050, a path that assumes cost declines that have not yet shown up.² The fund lineup reflects that tension. The Global X Uranium ETF (URA) offers the deepest liquidity and pure uranium-price exposure, with $6.86 billion in assets.⁴ Top nuclear-ETF weights have included Talen Energy near 3% and Dominion Energy around 3%, alongside Cameco, GE Vernova and Constellation, incumbent operators and fuel suppliers rather than bets on new build.⁴ The Uranium & Nuclear ETF (URAN), by contrast, holds Japanese and Korean reactor builders at lower cost than competitors, a tilt toward manufacturers working outside the United States.⁴ Until reactors arrive, cheaper fuel carries the load. With data-center demand set to keep climbing, the near-term swing supply is gas, not new nuclear.⁴ NYMEX Henry Hub front-month traded near $3.24 and Platts JKM LNG front-month near $15.82 on June 18th, neither pricing in any nuclear-driven disruption. The speed of the rotation shows elsewhere. Fluence Energy closed at $24.16 on May 8th, 2026, up 98.2% in a single week after it disclosed supply agreements with two hyperscalers and a record $5.6 billion backlog.¹ The stock has since fallen roughly 39% year to date, a reminder that AI-power enthusiasm reprices fast.¹ Nuclear ETFs have held their gains better.⁴ Investors are waiting for a project financing that proves the cost problem can be solved, and the Three Mile Island restart is the closest test.⁴ Deliver it on time and near budget, and the thesis gains a hard data point; let costs run, and the bull case stays a stack of government targets and Wall Street projections.^2,3 Strong enough for ETF momentum, not yet for the base case.³