Filed at 6:51 a.m. ET

WATERFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has launched an investigation into the disappearance of two fuel rods from a nuclear power plant that's been out of operation since 1995.

In documents filed with the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, commission staff attorney Norman St. Amour wrote that the investigation could lead to criminal charges.

Misplacing the fuel rods, characterized as high-level radioactive waste, is unprecedented in the nuclear industry.

Each rod is 13 feet long and the width of a pencil. Engineers doing an inventory of the Millstone One Nuclear Power Plant's nuclear waste storage pool in November noticed they were missing. The plant, one of three at the Millstone complex southwest of New London, is being decommissioned.

The slightly damaged rods were removed in 1972 and placed in the storage pool. The last reference to the rods was in a 1979 report.

Plant officials have been conducting their own investigation, and workers are going through paperwork to determine whether the rods were transferred to nuclear storage sites or to General Electric laboratories for study.

With the exception of nuclear plants and military facilities, there is no authorized storage site for high-level radioactive waste in the country.

The Millstone complex was sold in April to Dominion, which has ultimate responsibility for the rods. The former owner, Northeast Utilities, is paying for the search.

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On the Net:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov/

Millstone: http://www.dom.com/operations/station-nuc/millstone.html