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Times staff reporter A panel of 13 experts will meet tomorrow in Richland to been putting together a Gyear-old punle mat still has many of the pieces missing. . The special panel, picked by the Centers for Disease Control, will study whether past releases of radioactivity from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation posed a health threat. After two davs of mblic testimonv. Q finding Friday, which likeiy will recommend either that further studies be done or xiat it’s pointless to sper.d more than Q 51 miilion on epidemiologxal work. Amon? the pieces of the puzzle available to the panel a r e 19.ooO pages oi 6 ford releases during the 1W and 1950s ween :he xassive federal compiex w a s ilew ana ‘war-iime eifons were at their peak. Hanford was opened in 1943 to produce- plutonium for nuclear weapons. The panel also will hear testimony from Oregon and Washington state health officials. the three Indian tribes near the ment of Energy, advocacy groups concerned about radioactive emissions from the southeast Washington site and the Missing, however, from the equation are the people who lived downwind of Hanford and might have suffered from iW. Also lacKing is the assurance that the funds will be available to do whatever studies. if an::, are recommenaed. And. while the panel includes experts on public health studies. nuciear-waste management. health pnysics. radiation ana environmental monitonng, some question whether the qouD has enough make an aawuare assessment. “My attitude is wait and see,” said panelist Allen Benson. chemistry instructor at Spokane Falls Community College. “This week could be constructive or obstructive.” Benson was a founding member of the Hanford Education Action tion that questions DOE practices at 0 Llncoln Polissar, associate professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington and epidemiologist with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer qesearct: Center. said ;;e was coniiaent the panel would arnve at a consensus. “?here is goinq to be a lot of facts tion.” said Pollisir, adding h e hoped the UW could be involved in any future cy with a worldwide reDutation. said this $lM),oOO - is the best way to determine if more extensive studies are needed. The DOE has conrnbuted S60,COO for the stud:.,, with state oificiais expected to foot the remaining bill. The srudy was requested by the Washington Nuclear Waste Board. with the states of OreFon. !dano and Indian tnbes nvolved in rhe pianninF. The CDC, a federally funded azencv, did 3 similar plex at Savannah River. S.C. i ~ i n e;vas released from Three Mile Island. the worst commercial. reactor disaster in U.S. histoy. ments Xeview Cornmitree. wirn inrw remesenfarives each from the states of Washington, Oregon and affected Indian mong the topics io be addressed by Caldwell of Anzona, a cancer egidemioloing: 3 X study of previous eoidemioiogical studes funded by the DOE. comciex. m a wnetker ;hey shouid be 3 Xeview data concerning Fast radioactive releases from Hanford. 3 The zeed ior aconr ~ l :urnor reystr:. to mabie the state to :T;ic:(