How to Trade on Nuclear Power Concerns (GEX, FAN, PWND, LDK, HSOL, TSL)

As conditions at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant worsen with the growing threat of a meltdown caused by damage from last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami, the risk associated with the use of nuclear energy as a power source is being reevaluated around the world.

Leaders in France, Russia, South Korea, and India said that safety checks at the countries' many nuclear reactors would be conducted in order to assess the possibility that a natural disaster could lead to problems like those that Japan's reactors are currently experiencing.

The European Union plans to conduct stress tests on the nuclear power plants of its member states to determine how much they are at risk of being damaged by natural disasters like the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week.

Germany announced that it would shut down its seven nuclear reactors that came online before 1980 in order to carry out its own safety checks.

In Venezuela President Hugo Chavez announced that he is halting development of a nuclear power program that was to be built with the help from Russia.

Although everyone agrees that the safety level of nuclear reactors is of critical importance, some are now saying that concerns over the dangers posed by nuclear power are overblown because Japan's situation is unique in that it is an island nation with a long history of strong seismic activity.

Although nuclear power has received a black eye from the events unfolding in Japan, it's too early to determine what the long-term effects of the disaster will be on the use of nuclear power.

If any of the Japanese reactors go into meltdown or the radiation spewing from them leads to widespread illness, clean energy sources like solar and wind could become more in demand than ever before. Cost is probably the biggest obstacle to alternative energy sources being more widely used but if nuclear power is seen to be to risky, consumers may be willing to pay a premium for cleaner energy sources.

The Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF GEX is an investment that should be considered by those who are looking to invest in a broad range of alternative energy companies.

The First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy FAN ETF and the PowerShares Global Wind Energy PWND ETF are two wind power investments that could could see their values increase if there is a move towards greater usage of clean energy power sources.

Three companies in the solar power sector that could also see their share prices climb are LDK Solar Co. Inc. LDK, Hanwha SolarOne Co., Ltd. HSOL and Trina Solar Limited TSL.