And some "extra large" releases are planned, as if delivered by a Scud missile. A specially equipped helicopter spreading chemicals is designed to simulate that.

Documents say up to 30,000 pounds of C-4 explosives will be used in tests to vaporize and spread the simulants.

The Army banned using real chemical or germ weapons in open-air tests at Dugway after a 1969 nerve gas accident there killed 6,000 sheep in nearby Skull Valley (and may have caused long-term health problems for some ranchers). So it will use in these tests what the Army says are safer "simulants."

That includes the biological agent Bacillus subtilis (Nigervariety). Medical texts say it is not considered dangerous to healthy adults but could cause infections for those who are sick or weak. About 16 pounds of it are planned to be used in tests, and are planned to be spread by a crop duster or a ground-based agricultural sprayer.

Chemical arms simulants will include methyl salicylate (wintergreen oil), triethyl phosphate (used in production of some resins and pesticides), acetic acid (the compound that gives vinegar its sour taste and odor), polymethyl methacrylate (a clear plastic) and diethyl malonate (a plasticizer for polymers).

Plans call for up to 28,500 liters of those chemicals to be spread by explosives or helicopter.

One watchdog group says it is concerned about the tests, mainly because of past secretive experiments (and accidents) that proved to be more dangerous than the Army disclosed at the time.

"We are always concerned if you stick soldiers and sailors in tests that might adversely affect their health and welfare, now or in the future. We would have to do some further review before we consider it benign," said Steve Erickson, director of the Citizens Education Project and a longtime critic of Dugway.

"We want troops to be well-protected if they are put in harm's way, but this raises red flags that remind us of atomic veterans and Project SHAD (an at-sea series of tests that hit target ships with chemical and germ agents)," incidents where supposedly safe tests hurt or sickened soldiers who participated, he said.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com