President Donald Trump, while recounting the strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, reportedly contemplated the possibility of another military strike on Tehran at his Board of Peace meeting in Washington this week.
“[The U.S.] may have to take it a step further or we may not. You will be finding out over the next probably 10 days,” Trump said. “We do have some work to do with Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon, they’ve been told that very strongly.” The U.S. has built up its military presence in the Middle East to the point that Trump has the option to take action as soon as this weekend, according to the New York Times.
Meanwhile, in Geneva this week, Oman’s foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi was a mediator alongside the IAEA between the U.S. and Iran. On X, al-Busaidi said “the spirit of our meetings was constructive,” and “together we made serious efforts to define a number of guiding principles for a final deal. The contribution of the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi was much appreciated. Much work is yet to be done, and the parties left with clear next steps before the next meeting.”
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Douglas Adams assumed leadership of the AUKUS Integration and Acquisition (I&A) Direct Reporting Program Management Office on Feb. 9.
Adams succeeded Rear Adm. Richard Seif, who was confirmed to the rank of Vice Admiral and will assume command of Submarine Force Atlantic and Allied Submarine Command in Norfolk, Va. While Adams takes on the new role, he will also retain his position as Program Executive Officer for Undersea Warfare Systems, which he took on in May 2024.
The AUKUS office is responsible for executing the trilateral partnership to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered attack submarines.
The National Nuclear Security Administration removed a total of 68 radioactive devices nationwide in 2025, the agency said in a press release.
The removals were part of the Cesium Irradiator Replacement Project, which involves removing cesium-137 irradiators used for medical treatments and replacing them with a non-radioactive alternative, and the Off-Site Source Recovery Program, which has been an initiative since 1997 to eliminate radioactive devices. Even devices that could have a benevolent effect, like the irradiators, pose a national security threat since the radioactive material inside is at risk for potential adversarial uses if stolen, including a “dirty bomb” or a mix of radioactive material and conventional explosives, the release said.
“With every removal, NNSA lays another stone in the foundation of a safer, more secure America,” Matthew Napoli, deputy administrator for NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, said in the press release. “The milestones achieved through CIRP and OSRP are testaments to our role in strengthening radiological security and building safer communities.”
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) on Tuesday announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ohio-based Path Robotics to integrate the latter’s physical artificial intelligence technology in order to improve shipbuilding throughput by adding a new welding process.
While HII already uses robotic technology at its shipyards to do the same task 10,000 times, Path Robotics’ strength and use case is providing robotic systems that can be programmed to do 10,000 different tasks that just need to be done correctly once, HII Executive Vice President of Maritime Systems and Corporate Strategy Eric Chewning told reporters during a virtual media roundtable on Tuesday.
Chewning referred to this physical AI welding process as an investment in an “industry 4.0 technology” that they hope will help improve the company’s shipbuilding throughput by another 15% this year. He said this comes after it already improved by 14% in 2025.
Robert O’Brien has been appointed the new vice president of space programs at Navarro in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the nuclear energy small business contractor said Wednesday.
O’Brien’s prior experience includes working on reactor concept projects and nuclear fuels at Idaho National Laboratory for the National Aeronautical Space Association (NASA), the Department of Energy, and the Pentagon. Prior to working with the DOE laboratories, he was a researcher for the University of Leicester Space Research Center and worked on nuclear batteries as a heat source.
O’Brien has a master’s degree in physics with space science and technology and a doctorate in physics research from the University of Leicester.