As artificial intelligence creates a step change in electricity demand, nuclear power offers the potential to help fill the gap as well as enhance investing portfolios.
Between the mid-2000s and early 2020s, electricity consumption in the U.S. was relatively flat. Efficiency gains and a shift from manufacturing to the less power-intensive service sector offset demand from population increases and economic growth, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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That is changing.
After growing by just 0.1% per year between 2005 and 2020, U.S. electricity consumption is expected to grow by an average 1.7% annually from 2025 through this year, the EIA says. The increase in demand is being driven by the industrial sector, including manufacturing businesses, and the commercial sector, which includes data centers.
Those centers, which use powerful computers to crunch the numbers for artificial intelligence uses, will be a major factor in electricity consumption growing from 0.9% to 1.6% per year through 2050, the EIA says.
“New data center complexes can require as much electric power as a city,” says Seth Grae, CEO of nuclear fuel technology developer Lightbridge Corp. (ticker: LTBR). “Nuclear power plants are uniquely well suited to provide massive amounts of the most reliable power, and nuclear electricity on the grid will grow as part of a diversified energy mix.”
The need for nuclear goes beyond just artificial intelligence.
“AI and the rapid buildout of data centers are emerging as powerful new sources of electricity demand, but they are part of a much broader trend that includes electrification, electric vehicles, reshoring and industrial growth, and rising power consumption globally,” says Trevor Yates, a portfolio manager and senior investment analyst at Global X ETFs.
Nigam Arora, founder of The Arora Report investing newsletter, thinks that eventually a number of large data center campuses will have dedicated nuclear generation, including with advanced reactors and small modular reactors that supply power directly to the centers without relying on the broader energy grid.
“There is considerable opportunity here, but investors also need to recognize where these companies are in their development,” Arora says. “A promising reactor technology is not the same thing as an established commercial business.”
With that in mind, here are five ways investors can play the nuclear theme:
| Stock/ETF | Investment Case |
| Cameco Corp. (CCJ) | Major producer with integrated fuel cycle and reactor exposure. |
| Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG) | Top nuclear utility powering tech data centers via long-term contracts. |
| Centrus Energy Corp. (LEU) | Sole U.S.-licensed producer of specialized next-gen reactor fuel. |
| VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR) | Broad low-cost fund spanning miners, utilities and nuclear technology. |
| Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF (NUKZ) | Diversified supply chain exposure providing stability during market uncertainty. |
Cameco Corp. (CCJ)
At the same time that global nuclear capacity is expected to expand, uranium mine supply is trailing annual reactor requirements, and new mines can take many years to develop, Yates points out. “We believe the investment case for uranium and nuclear energy is increasingly compelling as a structural rise in electricity demand collides with a constrained uranium supply chain,” he says.
This Canadian company is the world’s second-biggest miner of uranium, behind Kazakhstan-based National Atomic Co. Kazatomprom JSC (OTC: NATKY).
As a mining company, Cameco is subject to uranium price movements, which can be volatile even though they are expected to continue rising over the long term. Still, the company is an established producer, making it less risky than exploration companies that aren’t yet in production.
Cameco also has investments across the nuclear fuel cycle, including 49% ownership in Westinghouse Electric Co., a nuclear technology equipment manufacturer.
Westinghouse is one of the premier nuclear reactor vendors in the world, Arora says, pointing out that the company’s reactor technology is already operating commercially, unlike many of the newer advanced reactor designs attracting investor attention. More Westinghouse reactors are under construction or on order.
With Cameco, “investors get the uranium business, but they also get significant exposure to the potential growth in Westinghouse,” Arora says.
Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG)
This utility company owns nuclear plants that can charge premiums to the tech companies that operate AI data centers.
With the biggest fleet of nuclear plants in the U.S., Constellation is an obvious choice as a source for Big Tech’s nuclear energy needs. Meta Platforms Inc. (META) has a 20-year nuclear agreement with Constellation. And Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has agreed to purchase energy from a Constellation-revived unit at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
“Among the utilities, our favorite is Constellation Energy,” Arora says. “Existing nuclear plants are becoming more valuable as data-center operators compete for reliable power.”
[Read: 8 Best Quantum Computing Stocks to Buy in 2026]
Centrus Energy Corp. (LEU)
Current large reactors use low-enriched uranium to produce electricity.
But advanced reactors and an emerging technology called small modular reactors will create a new source of demand. Advanced reactors and more than half of small modular reactor designs in development use a more concentrated form of uranium called high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the World Nuclear Association says.
Centrus is the only company in the U.S. with a license to make HALEU, and it has been producing small quantities.
In June, Centrus and Sam Altman-backed advanced nuclear fission startup Oklo Inc. (OKLO) said they plan for Centrus to supply enough domestic HALEU to power up to five Oklo microreactors for multiple years, with deliveries to begin in 2029.
VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR)
Investors who want to spread out the risk of emerging nuclear companies with a more diversified investment than single stocks can consider exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, which trade under a single ticker symbol but contain many stocks.
This ETF invests in uranium mining companies; companies that build, engineer and maintain nuclear power facilities and reactors; companies involved in the production of electricity from nuclear sources; and companies that provide equipment, technology or services to the nuclear power industry.
“That breadth matters because the nuclear resurgence is creating potential beneficiaries at multiple points in the ecosystem, from the uranium needed to fuel a growing reactor fleet to the technologies required to build the next generation of nuclear capacity,” Yates says.
This fund has an expense ratio of 0.52%, or $52 per year for every $10,000 invested.
Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF (NUKZ)
Like the VanEck ETF, this fund is diversified along the nuclear supply chain, giving investors exposure to companies involved in advanced reactors, utilities, construction, services and fuel.
Both of these funds include utilities, which can give investing in the nuclear sector a defensive tinge.
Utilities are unlikely to outperform growth stocks during times of economic expansion and stock market optimism. But when the tide turns and economic uncertainty increases, utilities can act as a portfolio cushion because houses and businesses need electricity year-round, regardless of what the economy is doing.
“It provides broader exposure across the nuclear industry, rather than making the investment dependent on one uranium producer, utility or reactor developer,” Arora says of NUKZ.
The fund has an expense ratio of 0.85%.
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5 Best Nuclear Energy Stocks and ETFs to Buy originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 08/19/26: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
