RICHMOND - A $2 billion plant that will destroy the Blue Grass Army Depot's chemical weapons will be built only after a lengthy permit process and will be closely regulated, officials told a crowd last night at Eastern Kentucky University.

More than 120 people filled a conference room for an update on plans to neutralize the depot's decaying stockpile of chemical weapons. An international treaty requires that they be destroyed by 2012.

Using posters and slides, officials from project contractor Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, the depot and the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection described the permit and neutralization processes and offered some updates:

n Design of the plant is on schedule to be 10 percent complete by the end of January. The initial design package, in which about 30 percent of construction should be complete, is scheduled for July 31.

n The permit that will enable the plant to be built will be submitted to the state by March 16.

A second permit will be required to neutralize the 523 tons of GB (sarin) nerve agent, VX nerve agent and mustard agent stored at the depot. It will take years to obtain both.

The depot's much larger stocks of conventional munitions will not be affected.

n Substantial numbers of jobs for local residents should start becoming available around midsummer of 2005, when officials hope to begin construction.

About 100 people already are working on the project, most of them Bechtel employees in Pasadena, Calif.

Some questions remain about the specifics of the neutralization process. One local resident, William Scrivner, said officials had not done enough to protect the public or answer questions from citizens. Others wondered how stringent state inspections will be.

But others seemed pleased that the weapons will be neutralized instead of incinerated and that in a dozen years or so, they'll be gone.

"We feel like we've made a lot of progress in terms of getting what the citizens want, getting the safest possible destruction plan," said Danielle Capillo, a Berea College student. "I'm still concerned about the technology being offered. I feel like it's a little over my head, but I'm still concerned about it."

Chris Midgett, project manager for Bechtel Parsons, said he was pleased by the turnout for the public meeting, the first held since Bechtel received the contract to design, build and operate the plant in June.

"It's clear the public is interested in this process," he said, "and I hope they stay engaged."