Nuclear Energy is Having a Major Moment — Here's Why and How to Play It

Nuclear power just went from “boring utility stock” to “the hottest energy trade.” And it’s not just hype — there are three solid reasons why institutional money is flooding in:

The Trump Effect + AI’s Insatiable Power Hunger

Under Trump’s new policies, the U.S. is pushing hard to quadruple nuclear capacity by 2050. Executive orders are speeding up reactor licensing, restarting dormant plants, and ramping up domestic uranium production. Meanwhile, AI data centers are consuming electricity like never before, and they need stable baseload power — guess what fits perfectly? Nuclear.

The U.S. already leads global nuclear production, but now it’s actually getting the policy tailwinds to expand.

Constellation Energy: The Nuclear Play That’s Actually Executing

Since spinning off from Exelon in 2022, Constellation Energy (CEG) has become the largest operator of nuclear plants in America. The company’s recent moves show how serious this opportunity is:

• Microsoft deal: A 20-year power purchase agreement to restart Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 (rebranded as Crane Clean Energy Center) to power Microsoft’s data centers.
• Meta deal: Another 20-year nuclear PPA signed this year.
• Calpine acquisition: A $16.4 billion deal that nearly doubles their generating capacity to 60GW, heavily positioning them in AI data center hubs like Texas.

These aren’t speculative contracts — they’re 20-year commitments from trillion-dollar tech companies. The deals are immediately accretive to earnings and cash flow. Plus, CEG pays dividends with a 10% raise this year and actively buys back shares.

The Diversified Play: Nuclear ETF

If picking individual stocks feels risky, the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR) gives you basket exposure:

• Top holdings: Oklo (small modular reactors), Constellation Energy, Cameco (uranium), Centrus Energy (enrichment), BWX Technologies (Navy components)
• Global spread: Companies from Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, China, UK — not just U.S.
• 28 stocks total: Covers the full nuclear supply chain
• Expense ratio: 0.56% | SEC yield: 0.86%

It’s basically one ticker to play the entire nuclear wave.

The Real Signal

What’s telling isn’t just policy changes — it’s the PPA deals. When Microsoft and Meta lock in 20-year contracts for nuclear power, they’re signaling that nuclear is the only reliable clean energy that can handle AI’s computing demands at scale. That’s not trend-following; that’s structural demand.

For conservative investors: go with NLR for diversification. For conviction plays: CEG has size, scale, and execution.