Last week, the team at a $278-billion-AUMS* fund firm in the Midwest rolled out a thematic exchange-traded fund focused on the "nuclear power ecosystem."

Ryan O. Issakainen First Trust Portfolios L.P. Senior Vice President, ETF Strategist

On Thursday (July 31), Ryan Issakainen, senior vice president and ETF strategist at First Trust Advisors L.P. [profile], and Allison Stone, head of multi-asset index product management at Bloomberg Index Services Limited (BISL), unveiled the launch of the First Trust Bloomberg Nuclear Power ETF (RCTR on the NYSE Arca). Wheaton, Illinois-based First Trust serves as the new ETF's investment advisor and fund reporting agent, while BISL serves as index provider and index calculation agent.

RCTR's inception date was last Wednesday, July 30, and the ETF comes with an expense ratio of 70 basis points. RCTR now has about $1.485 million in AUM**.

RCTR is designed to track the Bloomberg Nuclear Power Index. The new fund's PM team is a seven-person investment committee that includes:

Jon Erickson, senior vice president at First Trust;

Daniel Lindquist, chair of the committee and managing director;

David McGarel, chief investment officer, chief operating officer, and managing director;

Chris Peterson, SVP;

Erik Russo, SVP;

Roger Testin, SVP; and

Stan Ueland, SVP.

Issakainen puts the launch of RCTR in the context of "renewed interest in nuclear power" thanks to "increasing demand for clean and reliable energy to power artificial intelligence ('AI'), electric vehicles, and industrial reshorting."

"RCTR offers investors a targeted strategy that seeks to provide exposure to the growing nuclear power ecosystem," Issakainen states.

Stone notes that the index powering RCTR is designed "to provide a transparent, rules-based view into the global nuclear energy value chain and includes up to 50 companies selected based on their revenue exposure to nuclear power and market capitalization."

"Constituents span critical segments of this landscape such as power generation, uranium, and engineering and construction services and we're excited to work with First Trust to see this delivered through an ETF wrapper," Stone states.

RCTR is a non-diversified series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II. The new ETF's other service providers include:

Bank of New York Mellon as administrator, accounting agent, custodian, and transfer agent;

Chapman and Cutler LLP as counsel;

Deloitte & Touche LLP as independent accounting firm; and

First Trust Portfolios L.P. as distributor.

*As of June 30, 2025.

**As of August 1, 2025. 

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