Failed fuel cladding in light water reactors can lead to premature reactor shutdown for removal of the failed fuel bundles from the core. The lost power and associated fuel replacement costs are astronomically high, approaching a million dollars per day in near term costs. Additionally, the long term affect on an operating plant are the release and distribution around the plant of long-lived fission products which increase radiation levels and impose increased radiological protection procedures. A method has been developed which allows for on-line early detection of failed fuel elements while the plant is operating through flowing off-gas through a conduit to a gamma spectrograph with a time delay to allow interfering short lived isotopes to decay and then analyzing for gamma radiation from at least one of the nuclides Kr-85m, Kr-87, Kr-88, Xe-133, Xe-135, Xe-135m and Xe-138. The implementation of this technology achieves significant cost savings for the operating utility and allows for continued operation for extended periods of time before the plant is shutdown for removal of the failed elements.