Fuel assembly with outer channel including reinforced sidewall and non-reinforced sidewall

A reactor core in a commercial nuclear power plant, the reactor core comprising:

• a first fuel assembly and a second fuel assembly each including
• at least one fuel rod, and
• an outer channel with sidewalls surrounding the fuel rod, the outer channel having a configuration based on a position within the reactor core of a nuclear reactor, each of the sidewalls being either a reinforced sidewall or a non-reinforced sidewall, the reinforced sidewall being in a controlled location that faces and is directly adjacent to a control blade that is to be utilized in the nuclear reactor, the non-reinforced sidewall being in a non-controlled location that has a lower relative reactivity than the rest of the reactor core or is at an edge location within the reactor core, an entirety of the reinforced sidewall as a whole being at least one of a first uniformly constant thickness that is thicker than a second uniformly constant thickness of an entirety of the non-reinforced sidewall as a whole or uniformly made from a material that is more resistant to radiation-induced deformation as compared to an entirety of the non-reinforced sidewall,
• the first fuel assembly including at least one first sidewall that is the reinforced sidewall and at least one second sidewall that is the non-reinforced sidewall,
• each of the sidewalls of the second fuel assembly being the non-reinforced sidewall.