Ranking The World's Nuclear Arsenals

An underwater test-firing of a strategic submarine ballistic missile is seen in North Korea. KCNA/File Photo via Reuters

Business Insider: We ranked the world's nuclear arsenals — here's why China's came out on top

* Of the nine nations that control the roughly 14,200 nuclear weapons in the world, Russia's bombs could most easily end all life on earth.
* But a nuclear arsenal can't just be judged on how deadly it is.
* Nuclear nations must be judged on their execution of nuclear projects, their safety and responsibility in nuclear enterprises, whether or not they accomplish their nuclear missions, and the cohesiveness of their nuclear doctrine in addition to just making things go "boom."
* Business Insider spoke with a nuclear-weapons expert and concluded that China has the world's best nuclear arsenal, though not nearly the biggest or most ready to fight.

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed long-held rumors in the US intelligence community in a speech on March 1, 2018, by announcing Russia had built an underwater nuclear device capable of killing millions in a single blast and rendering thousands of square miles of land uninhabitable for decades.

The US, Russia's main nuclear rival, had no answer for this weapon— no defenses in place can stop it, no emergency-response plans in place address it, and no forthcoming projects to counter or neuter it.

On the surface, the doomsday torpedo represents unrivaled capability of nuclear destruction, but a nuclear arsenal's worth rests on many factors, not just its ability to kill.

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WNU Editor: The above author ranks China's nuclear arsenal as number one. I do not know how he made this calculation since China keeps its nuclear program and arsenal "top secret".