Francis Agar readily admits that the beginning of his journey was an accident.
“I had quit engineering at the University of Nairobi, when a friend made me meet some representatives of a South Korean University who were visiting the country. I won the Olympiad (a mathematics test), filled in some application forms & was told to wait.”
Later, he received an admissions letter and a scholarship to the prestigious KAIST, a top 50 globally-ranked higher education institution considered the MIT of Asia.
“Off I went to Daejeon!”
"I believe two things: you can’t own knowledge, and you can’t be satiated with knowledge. There is always a deeper level you can go to."
Daejeon is easily one of the most high-tech couple of square kilometers on Earth where most of Korea’s cutting-edge research is happening and as such an inspiration for the Konza Technopolis where the Kenya-AIST is being built.
Agar’s education has taken him from Kibra to institutions like KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Czech Technical University in Prague, ESADE business school in Catalonia, Université Paris-Saclay, INSTN and Centrale Supélec in France.
Having excelled in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination at Olympic Primary School in Kibra, Agar had a very unique dream job.
“When being interviewed by the media after the KCPE results had been announced, I remember declaring that I was going to become an astronaut.”
His inspiration for intergalactic travel was from cartoons he watched as a child.
“I recall how disappointed I was when I learned that the farthest man has gone was the moon.”
Agar has a number of advanced nuclear power projects listed in his portfolio. He participated in the design of the Primary Cover Gas and Ventilation System (PGCVS) which is a crucial safety feature for the Accelerator Driven Lead Bismuth Eutectic Cooled MYRRHA Reactor currently under construction at the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK-CEN) in Mol east of Brussels.
“Being 5 ft 5 on a good day, I couldn’t become an astronaut. So I became a nuclear engineer.”
An expert in Advanced Reactors and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Agar has also worked with the Thorium Network to explore the Thorium Fuel Cycle favoured for Molten Salt Reactors. Agar now sits on the Nuclear Energy and Technologies Young Expert Group under the BRICS Youth Energy Agency where he contributed to the development of the BRICS Youth Energy Agency Outlook 2024.
He also advises the leadership of ENLIT Africa, a South African company that organises conferences across the entire portfolio of energy on the continent. “My role on the board is to advise the leadership on nuclear science and technology as well as what is happening in the global energy sector with a leaning on nuclear energy.”
At the COP28 in Abu Dhabi last year, nations committed to tripling the amount of power generated from nuclear sources. Only two African countries signed the treaty. This year, Kenya committed to the same.
“This is a step in the right direction since nuclear power is the only means the decarbonization of economic growth in countries like Kenya can be achieved while mitigating the effects of climate change” says the alumnus of Maseno School who sang in the choir and even captained the rugby team at some point.
“We have the Nuclear Society of Kenya through which professionals using nuclear technologies for agriculture, medicine and power production can complement the government’s efforts to domesticate nuclear technology.
“I believe two things: you can’t own knowledge, and you can’t be satiated with knowledge. There is always a deeper level you can go to.”