Abstract: The small bursting test is a micro specimen test technique which can be used to test the irradiation surveillance specimens in nuclear reactor pressure vessels. With the same principle of bursting disc, the round thin specimen was hydraulically expanded and burst. Conventional tensile properties were gotten by specific point on load-displacement curves recorded during the test. Different approximate analytical methods were compared in order to get the suitable methods for yield strength and tensile strength calculation. Based on the above study, the small bursting test was performed on domestic nuclear material A508 steel and the strength properties of A508 steel are highly consistent with the conventional tensile data.