An important part of the agenda of the March meeting is the discussion of the report on nuclear safety, the report on nuclear security and the report on nuclear technologies. As the second anniversary of the occupation of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was coming up at the same time, the safety, security and safeguards situation in Ukraine received a great deal of attention, as expected. As a new member of the Board of Governors, Ukraine itself tabled a resolution on the topic, which was ultimately adopted by vote; this was the fourth resolution on Ukraine in the Board of Governors. Ukraine also showed a strong presence by the participation of Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko as head of the delegation.

In addition, the already familiar non-proliferation topics of Iran, DPRK and AUKUS were at the centre of the discussions. Once again, there was a lengthy debate on the conflict in the Middle East, albeit less emotionally charged than at the meeting in November.

The September meeting of the Board of Governors, at which the Director-General reports, among other things, on the implementation of the resolutions adopted by the General Conference the previous year on nuclear safety, nuclear security and nuclear science, technology and applications, always takes place before the General Conference (16-29 September 2024). The familiar non-proliferation issues regarding Iran, the DPRK, Syria and AUKUS were also debated in detail again. Once again, a central topic was the safety and security of nuclear facilities in Ukraine. The conflict in Gaza was also the subject of a series of debates. The agenda also included the item proposed by KAZ on the ‘homeless states’. Somalia was admitted as the 180^th member state of the IAEA.