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Tom Pashby (they/them)

@tompashby.bsky.social
1K followers 241 following 26 posts

senior reporter at New Civil Engineer, freelance elsewhere | interested in nuclear (power and defence), infrastructure, environment, UK politics | contact@tompashby.com (Proton) +44 7942 278056 | tompashby.substack.com

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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Seeing as the UK has yet another Prime Minister, I thought I’d look into the ‘letters of last resort’ tompashby.substack.com/p/command-op...
tompashby.substack.com
Command options for PMs’ apocalypse letters to nuke sub captains not held in MOD documents
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not hold information on what options Prime Ministers’ face when writing their letters to the captains of nuclear-armed submarines - which contain the instructions on...
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
I've started a Substack! I will mainly be writing news stories, based on FOI requests, about nuclear (power and defence), infrastructure, the environment and UK politics tompashby.substack.com/p/mod-wont-s...
tompashby.substack.com
MOD won’t say if it assessed Iranian ballistic missile threat to London
The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has declined to reveal whether it has assessed the threat posed by Iran’s ballistic missile to London, after two intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) were fir...
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Great British Energy - Nuclear (GBE-N) said it planned to spend up to £20bn on up to four awards under its Small Modular Reactor Technical Partner (SMR TP) procurement process, and announced on 8 May 2026 a £359M contract to Rolls-Royce SMR www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/04254...
find-tender.service.gov.uk
Small Modular Reactor Technology Partner - Find a Tender
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
thanks to a PQ from PQ enthusiast @benobesejecty.bsky.social, MOD has now revealed that the Atomic Weapons Establishment's (AWE's) Future Materials Campus is one of nine Defence Nuclear Enterprise projects with whole-life costs exceeding £10bn questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
HMG had, until fairly recently, been vague about whether it had formally commissioned Great British Energy - Nuclear to carry out a feasibility study into developing new nuclear power plants at sites in Scotland According to this FOI response to me, DESNZ did formally commission it in Oct 2025
A screenshot of an email from DESNZ deputy director GBE-N policy and sponsorship David Forbes to GBE-N's Neil Cooper, formally commissioning the study and confirming that the budget can be drawn from GBE-N's underspend
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
I started getting paid for freelance writing in 2018 and the rates have stayed the same or fallen I don't think there are any truly 'freelance journalists' left, unless they have 20 years of journalism under their belt and are themselves at least a minor celebrity
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
always v interesting when people bring new tactics to campaigning for environmental and social justice I wrote this for @thecanaryuk.bsky.social
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Neom finally cracked and gave me the tiniest details about the giga-project in Saudi Arabia confirmed to me that concrete works lining a trench pictured in photos shared by the chief operating officer of the Line are, in fact, not in the Line www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/neom-...
newcivilengineer.com
Neom | New imagery shows concrete works have started at Saudi’s The Line | New Civil Engineer
Neom the flagship project of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 programme of development, intended to diversify the country’s
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
nuclear advocates seem convinced that an advanced modular reactor (AMR) is what Port Talbot Steelworks needs, but a steel industry source told me they thought electricity from AMRs would be too expensive www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/peer-...
newcivilengineer.com
Peer advocates for AMR to power Port Talbot steelworks | New Civil Engineer
Domestic UK steelmaking has shot up the agenda this month as concerns have increased about the last British Steel blast furnaces being shut off as its
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
often with these reports, its only binary identities which are recorded so it’s nice to see non-binary people having their gender identities at least made visible in this report on the nuclear workforce, despite representation being small www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/subma...
newcivilengineer.com
Submarine reactors and nuclear warheads driving significant growth in nuclear workforce | New Civil Engineer
The 2024 Nuclear Workforce Assessment (NWA) by Cogent Skills, for the Nuclear Workforce Assessment Working Group, found that the overall nuclear workforce
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
frmr defence sec Gavin Williamson asked the govt what it is doing to counter Chinese/Russian influence in 'global nuclear energy exports' despite the PQ being "due for answer by 28 March," FCDO has not yet responded I've approached FCDO questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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Tom Pashby (they/them) @tompashby.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Network Rail is stockpiling around 60,000t of rail (made of steel) because of concerns about the potential collapse of British Steel The Guardian first reported the existence of the stockpile NR spokes told me the railway needs around 60,000t per year www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/netwo...
newcivilengineer.com
Network Rail has stockpiled enough steel to maintain services in case of British Steel collapse | New Civil Engineer
Emergency law passed to protect domestic steel supply Parliament was recalled on Saturday 12 April because the government was so concerned about the
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