Nuclear Engineer for Miss USA Pageant

A Dominion nuclear engineer will be competing in the Miss USA pageant in June. If she wins, she will go on to compete for the Miss Universe title.

Brittany N. Poteet, 23, is a radiation protection engineer at the energy company’s Innsbrook office in Glen Allen and is the reigning Miss Virginia USA. She says competing in beauty pageants is fun and exciting but not as important as making radiation safety calculations.

“I don’t have a lot of down time,” Poteet (pictured above) said. “I don’t even have a TV because I don’t have time to watch it. Competing in beauty pageants is like having a second job. But I always knew I wanted to have a real career, one that I could count on and that would pay the bills. What I do here at Dominion is really important – it’s my first and biggest responsibility.”

Poteet, who goes by “Nikki,” joined the company in December as a full-time engineer after working for Dominion as a college intern. She has an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering, both from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Ever since she was a little girl growing up in Bristol, Va., dressing up was tops on her playlist. “The makeup, fancy dresses, and big hair – I love it all,” Poteet says. “But I still like explaining a nuclear chain reaction. It’s great seeing the surprised and amazed looks on people’s faces.”

She has been competing in beauty pageants since attending Thomas Dale High School in Chesterfield County.

“My parents never pushed me,” she said. “I grew up a tomboy but I always liked Barbie dolls, dressing up and hair and makeup stuff, too. In high school my friends told me I should start competing in pageants, so I did. I am very competitive.”

She is the daughter of Dan and Alice Poteet of Chester. She won the Miss Virginia USA title Nov. 6 at a pageant at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach. 

The Miss USA 2011 contest will be held in Las Vegas June 19 and will be televised live.

Dominion is one of the nation’s leading producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,600 megawatts of generation. It was announced by Dominion on Monday, June 13.