New Index Tracks World?s Nuclear Energy Stocks; Official Index of the World Nuclear Association

New York (PRWEB) January 29, 2008 -- The WNA Nuclear Energy Index (Ticker: WNAI) of 66 global nuclear energy stocks has commenced real-time price dissemination. Data is available through most data vendors. S&P Custom Indexes serves as calculation agent for the indexes.

WNAI is a comprehensive global benchmark for tracking the influence of Nuclear Energy on companies active in the sector. Says former US Ambassador John Ritch, Director General of the World Nuclear Association and Member of the WNAI Index Committee, ?Nuclear energy is undergoing a global renaissance, with industry expansion driven by intensifying environmental concerns, the rising cost of carbon fuels, the steadily increasing cost-efficiency of nuclear power, and global economic growth trends, especially in middle income countries.?

The world?s most ambitious nuclear program is in China. With only 11 reactors today, China intends, in cooperation with Western vendors, to build ten times that many over the next two decades. Recently, China placed the largest contract in nuclear energy history, a $12 billion order with Areva, the most heavily weighted company in the WNA Index. India, the other fast rising economic power in the developing world, has laid similar plans for expansive growth in civil nuclear power.

The renewed interest in nuclear energy is evident in dozens of countries, extending through both the developed and developing worlds. Of the 30 countries (representing two-thirds of global population) that generate nuclear power today, most are constructing or planning new reactors, while more than 10 additional countries are in the early stages of introducing nuclear power for the first time.

In the U.S., which operates 104 reactors, more than 30 reactor-construction applications are now pending with Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These are the first such applications in two decades.

The WNA Index, a product of collaboration between the World Nuclear Association and S-Network Global Indexes, LLC, covers five key nuclear energy sectors: Reactors, Construction, Fuels, Technologies & Services, and Nuclear Power Generation.

The WNA Nuclear Energy Index was designed to serve as a fair, impartial and transparent measure of the performance of the global nuclear energy industry, and is composed of a universe of publicly-traded companies from around the world. To be included in the index, a candidate company's performance must be materially influenced by industry development. A number of companies in the index are categorized as ?principally engaged?, meaning that the company generates over 50% of its revenues from the nuclear energy industry.

Says WNA Index Committee member, Joseph LaCorte, ?It is difficult to isolate and capture the economic opportunity embedded in the global growth of nuclear energy. We think the WNA index comes as close as possible ? and closer than any other index.?

The World Nuclear Association serves as the pre-eminent global forum and commercial meeting place for participants in the nuclear energy industry worldwide. Its membership of over 150 nuclear enterprises constitutes nearly the entirety of the global nuclear industry, including all major uranium miners, all fuel suppliers and all reactor vendors, as well as utilities that account for nearly 90% of world nuclear power generation.

The WNA Nuclear Energy Index has been licensed to financial services firms, which plan to offer listed investment and risk management products, including ETFs, based on the index.

Detailed information, including constituent data, rules and price information, can be found on the WNA Index website: www.wnanuclearindex.com.

Information about nuclear technology and the nuclear industry can be found on the WNA website: www.world-nuclear.org.

New news of developments in and affecting the industry appears on the World Nuclear News (WNN) website: www.world-nuclear-news.org. WNN offers a free daily email service, summarizing and providing links to the latest industry stories.

Joseph LaCorte, CFA

WNA Global Indexes, LLC

+1-646-467-7927

###

Comment on "New Index Tracks World?s Nuclear Energy Stocks; Official Index of the World Nuclear Association"