Veronica “Roni” Lynn Garrett is a senior reactor operator (SRO) license instructor with the STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) in Bay City, Texas, with more than 35 years of experience in her field, yet she discovered her professional path quite by chance. Early in her career, Ms. Garrett worked in the construction industry, where someone suggested she submit an application to a utility company. After eight months, she cleared the aptitude test and began working in the field, gradually scaling the ladder through her hard work, dedication, and commitment to professional development. After studying nuclear science engineering in college, Ms. Garrett became certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 1989. A decade later, she proudly earned her SRO designation.
Upon achieving her certification through the NRC, Ms. Garrett accepted a position with the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation in 1989. After 10 years of experience, she was promoted in 1999 to control room supervisor, a role she would hold for five years. From 2004 to 2011, she worked as a license instructor for the company, marking the beginning of her career shift toward instruction. After leaving the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation in 2012, she became a professional instructor for Gilbert Consulting Services. Ms. Garrett then secured experience as a contract instructor for the Duke Energy Corporation and proceeded to rise to the position of nuclear operations license instructor, in which she excelled for eight years. In 2023, after working with NextEra Energy, Inc., and GSE Solutions, she started in her current position at STPNOC. Leveraging her decades of experience, Ms. Garrett trains operators of the nuclear power plant and helps NRC licensees maintain their licenses. Her responsibilities include, yet are not limited to, using a simulator to prepare trainees for different accident conditions and plant failure scenarios, in addition to creating and developing educational materials.
Ms. Garrett has stayed current with developments and has contributed to her profession largely through her membership in U.S. Women in Nuclear, a nonprofit association of women who work in nuclear energy and technology fields across the country. During more than 20 years of operating a nuclear power plant, she worked rotating shifts and gradually changed her focus to instruction. To this end, Ms. Garrett considers earning her reactor operator license to be her most notable professional achievement. She also takes particular pride in having thrived for many years in the mostly male arena of nuclear reactor operation, due to her dedication, experience, and well-earned confidence in her abilities.
Making great strides since the beginning of her career, Ms. Garrett consistently grew and never stopped developing her professional skill set on the road to becoming a supervisor and SRO. She remains grateful that she still enjoys her work. Further, Ms. Garrett attributes her professional achievements to the instructors who mentored her in obtaining her license. While working, she says, individuals around her also collaborated with her, directly contributing to her career advancement. For this, too, she remains thankful. She looks forward to giving back by helping as many emerging professionals as possible before someday entering retirement.
Outside of her career, Ms. Garrett is a member of the Humane Society of the United States, an animal rights advocacy nonprofit, and she has demonstrated her support for independent media by donating to The Intercept, The Guardian, and Democracy Now. Looking ahead, her hope is simply to continue enjoying her life and spending time with her children and grandchildren, who bring her the most joy. In her free time, Ms. Garrett enjoys listening to and collecting music, singing, exercising, and watching movies. She has a substantial collection of vinyl records, including classic rock albums, and collects football memorabilia for the Kansas City Chiefs.
