AP NewsBreak: ND nuke to be moved due to snow melt

A nuclear missile will be removed from an underground silo in North Dakota because runoff from melting snow leaked into the facility, the Air Force said Tuesday.

Laurie Arellano, a Minot Air Force Base spokeswoman, said there was no danger to the public and the intercontinental ballistic missile would be tested as a precaution.

The base is the command center for 150 Minuteman III missiles sunk in hardened silos in western North Dakota.

Earlier this month, Air Force crews placed sandbags, built earthen dikes and began pumping water from 15 missile sites to protect them from runoff after a record winter snowfall, Arellano said. Snow was cleared from several sites.

Water entered only one missile silo after penetrating a protective berm, Arellano said. The silos are designed to handle some water and are equipped with sump pumps.

Water that leaked into the silo was sucked out by automatic pumps, though moisture was detected on the missile when crews inspected it, Arellano said.

"It wasn't flooded and there was no standing water," she said.

The missile will be disassembled in stages and brought to the base for inspection, Arellano said.

"Electric systems, fuels and motors are being checked out," she said. "We want to make sure there is no damage of any kind."

Each of the 150 missile sites has been inspected, she said.