Wednesday's move will allow Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, the contractor, to continue work through September 30th. The department also released 40 million dollars for a plant in Colorado.

One prominent critic, Craig Williams of the Berea-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, called the day's events a sign that the Pentagon has shifted its top priority from protecting the public to saving money.

In a memorandum Wednesday announcing the release of the funds, acting Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne called for a redesign to shave hundreds of millions of dollars off the projected cost of the Kentucky and Colorado plants.

Wynne wants their costs brought in line with estimates from 2002, which were derived before any design work was done.

A treaty requires the destruction of the entire U.S. stockpile by April 2012.