Number: RL33029
Title: Loss-of-Damages From U.S. Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Islands: Technical Analysis of the Nuclear Claims Tribunal's Methodology and Alternative Estimates
Authors: Salvatore Lazzari, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: Key oversight committees in the 109th Congress have held joint hearings on the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Changed Circumstances Petition, which requests $522 million in additional compensation for loss-of-use of Enewetak and Bikini atolls due to U.S. nuclear testing. The $522 million appears to be significantly overstated because the methodology - sample rent data, assumptions, and statistical procedures (i.e., the sampling technique and the use of the exponential regression model) - overestimates the per-acre rental rate for land on Enewetak and Bikini, the key variable in the loss-of-use calculation.
Pages: 38
Date: August 12, 2005