A series of experiments (IFA-431, 432, 513, and 527) sponsored by the Fuel Behavior Research Branch of the USNRC are being irradiated in the Halden Boiling Water Reactor to better define LWR fuel behavior over the normal operating range of power reactor fuel rods. One fuel behavior variable of interest is the thermally induced cracking of UO2 fuel pellets. The effects of pellet cracking on the effective thermal conductivity and elastic moduli for the fragmented fuel were found to be primarily dependent on the free area in the r, theta plane of the fuel rod. The free area is defined as the area within the cladding inner surface that is not occupied by the fuel fragments themselves.