Understands university's experimental nuclear devices (5)

I believe the answer is:

nukes

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'understands university's experimental' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'nuclear devices' is the wordplay.
'nuclear' becomes 'n' (this might be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'devices' becomes 'ukes' (uke is a kind of device).
'n'+'ukes'='NUKES'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for nukes that I've seen is " Destructive weapons".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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