After a deluge of public demand, the Army will hold two information sessions next week to discuss its plans to dispose of diluted toxic nerve gas in the Delaware River.

The proposal would bring about 1,600 tons of the neutralized nerve agent VX, now housed in Indiana, to a Salem County facility for treatment before the diluted waste would be released into the river. The Army hopes the first shipment will arrive around October at DuPont's Chambers Works Secure Environmental Treatment Unit in Deepwater, N.J.

"We want people to have accurate information about this project," said Anthony Farina, a spokesman for DuPont, which is cohosting the meetings in Carneys Point, N.J., and Wilmington. "We want to address concerns about a very broad range of topics, from technical assessments, transportation safety, treatability, and the environmental impact."

Environmental and political officials had raised concerns about the way the Army announced its plans - running a small ad in a Salem newspaper. They wanted to know why public discussions were not being held in affected areas, as they had been when the Army tried to dispose of the waste in Dayton, Ohio, a $9 million contract that was rejected after public outcry.

"We're being asked to be the guinea pigs for this. It's not being done anywhere else," said U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D., N.J.), who wrote a letter to the Army requesting the public sessions.

Andrews said he did not think the entire plan was worth the potential risks, and scoffed at a study DuPont released this week detailing the dilution and treatment plan.

"A vendor that's going to make millions off of a project releases a study saying it's safe - I would be amazed if it said anything other than that," he said.

VX is an odorless, tasteless, oily, amber-colored liquid that can kill on contact. The Army plans to neutralize the agent by mixing it with sodium hydroxide. The resulting liquid, called hydrolysate, would be mixed with hot water and sent to DuPont. The facility would then treat the waste with carbon absorption and break down the material further before releasing it.

Trucks, or trucks and trains, would transport the material from Indiana through Ohio and Pennsylvania to New Jersey. Another possible route would include Maryland and West Virginia.

"This isn't a good idea just on the technical grounds," said Alan Muller, executive director of Green Delaware, an environmental group. He said groups recognized the need to get rid of the nerve agent, but thought that the best way would be to dispose of the agent in Indiana instead of trucking it to other communities.

"It's entirely possible that the communities in Delaware and New Jersey will win this battle, and the Army won't be able to send it here, either," he said.