Well spoken - one really only needs a handfull of the nukes to be a good NT - same as there are tons of really crap guns out there and only a few that shine. All the calms, roots, layers and the rest are nice as you level up tho, perhaps with the exception of the blinds and Enfraams Fortification lines which are more 'optional'
Maybe we should compile a list?
Personally I like the following nukes, ranging from low ql (top) to high qlm but I'm sure there's other that should work well.
Viral Assault - ql 66
Feeble Gravitational Anomaly - ql 90
Ol' Faithful - ql 95 (great dmg over time, hard to replace for many lvls NOTE: only 60% NR and 'ok' min dmg, lands on lvl 250+ Sentries too!)
Unstable Hadron String - ql 119 (very low NR: 85)
Burning Quartet - ql 126
Stargasp - ql 156 (very fast little nuke, low taunt compared to dmg output over time)
Crown of Frost -ql 156 (-115 point nanoskill debuff, MUST for PvP! Lower versions exist)
Annihilating Hadron String - ql 165 (very low NR: 85)
Blaze of Hephaestos - ql 169 (very decent AoE)
Stinging Missile Swarm - ql 179
Izgimmer's Enveloping Flame - ql 182
Volcanic Eruption - ql 182 (fast AoE nuke, but low min. dmg and short range)
Kel's Neutronium Plaything - ql 212 (uber AoE nuke, but long recharge. Common drop from team mission bosses)
Izgimmer's Last Word - ql 212 (Only useful in some situations esp. soloing. Common drop from team mission bosses)
Candycane - ql 195 (Drops off high lvl unique npc 'Ljotur the Lunatic', multi team)
Resonance Blast - ql 200 (Drops off high lvl unique mob 'Agent Lamb', multi-team)