[en] Experimental results from six recent Power Burst Facility (PBF) reactivity initiated accident (RIA) tests are compared with data from previous Special Power Excursion Reactor Test (SPERT), and Japanese Nuclear Safety Research Reactor (NSRR) tests. The RIA fuel behavior experimental program recently started in the PBF is being conducted with coolant conditions typical of hot-startup conditions in a commercial boiling water reactor. The SPERT and NSRR test programs investigated the behavior of single or small clusters of light water reactor (LWR) type fuel rods under approximate room temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions in capsules containing stagnant water. As observed in the SPERT and NSRR tests, energy deposition, and consequent enthalpy increase in the PBF test fuel, appears to be the single most important variable. However, the consequences of failure at boiling water hot-startup system conditions appear to be more severe than previously observed in either the stagnant capsule SPERT or NSRR tests. Metallographic examination of both previously unirradiated and irradiated PBF fuel rod cross sections revealed extensive variation in cladding wall thicknesses (involving considerable plastic flow) and fuel shattering along grain boundaries in both restructured and unrestructured fuel regions. Oxidation of the cladding resulted in fracture at the location of cladding thinning and disintegration of the rods during quench. In addition,swelling of the gaseous and potentially volatile fission products in previously irradiated fuel resulted in volume increases of up to 180% and blockage of the coolant channels within the flow shrouds surrounding the fuel rods