Abstract: To meet the testing requirements of AP1000 nuclear fuel cladding tube, based on ultrasonic near-field guided wave principle, this paper proposes a method to evaluate the quality of thin-walled tube. Defect information is shown in the form of ultrasonic feature image. The test system can detect the defects in the tube, such as cracks, gas porosity, inclusions, lamination and folding defects, thus completely avoiding the occurrence of leak or mistakenly testing. The applicable minimum defect equivalent can reach 3% of wall thickness. Besides that, we can get the location and equivalent of the defects with an accuracy of 0.2mm. In conclusion, ultrasonic guided wave is suitable for the nondestructive evaluation of high energy consumption cladding tube.