As global populations continue to multiply and manufacturing starts to expand in developing nations, the demand for electricity will likely follow. With this in mind, it’s important to consider how and where nuclear energy fits in to meet this growing demand. In fact, in the United States, nuclear energy is the second most common way to generate electricity, closely behind coal. As for its uses around the world, countries like Lithuania, France, Belgium and Sweden generate more than half of their respective nation’s electricity via nuclear energy.
In addition to being an excellent source to power an economy, nuclear energy is relatively clean. Nuclear energy plants produce electricity through the fission of uranium, not the burning of fuels. Consequently, nuclear power plants do not pollute the air with nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, dust or greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Another important benefit that nuclear generated energy has on our environment is that the wastes produced are completely isolated from the environment.
Nuclear energy’s benefits make it not only economically viable, but politically attractive. Most recently, President Obama announced more than $8 billion in loan guarantees to build the U.S.’s first nuclear power plant in nearly 30 years. In addition, the President is pushing his energy bill which assigns a cost to the polluting emissions of fossil fuels so that nuclear fuel becomes more affordable.
The benefits of nuclear energy seem to be moving to the forefront in the energy sector and will likely continue to do so. Investors wishing to make a play on this sub-sector can do so through the following ETFs:
- Market Vectors Nuclear Energy (NLR), which holds 23 different companies that deal with nuclear energy and carries an expense ratio of 0.61%.
- PowerShares Global Nuclear Energy Portfolio (PKN), which holds 64 different companies who are involved with nuclear energy and carries an expense ratio of 0.75%.
- iShares S&P Global Nuclear Energy (NUCL), which holds 23 different companies around the globe who deal with nuclear energy and carries an expense ratio of 0.48%.
