A flood of new claims seeking compensation for nuclear test damage have been filed this week with the Nuclear Claims Tribunal in the Marshall Islands.
With the filing of land damage claims by leaders from nine more remote islands, two-thirds of the country's 24 inhabited atolls and islands, are now pressing compensation claims.
A petition from the Marshall Islands government - seeking more than four billion US dollars in additional nuclear test compensation - is with the U.S. Congress for review.
The increase in claims filed is a response to a deadline for the end of the year set by the Majuro-based Tribunal, which is attempting to wrap up its nuclear compensation work that started in the late 1980s.