The invention provides a visual experiment device for melting of a nuclear reactor fuel rod and a method. The visual experiment device comprises a high-temperature melting furnace provided with a plurality of transparent windows, wherein a test article is vertically arranged in the high-temperature melting furnace; rhenium-molybdenum electrodes are arranged at the upper end and the lower end of the test article respectively and connected with copper electrodes penetrating the side wall of the high-temperature melting furnace; the test article comprises the fuel rod; a tungsten-rhenium heatingrod is arranged in the fuel rod; a cooling water circulation system used for cooling the high-temperature melting furnace is arranged outside the high-temperature melting furnace. By means of the cooling water circulation system for the high-temperature melting furnace, the temperature of the outer side of the furnace body is kept in safe limits, an external high-speed camera can work normally, and a core melting process under a severe accident of a reactor can be simulated realistically. Obtained experiment data can provide verification for the traditional numerical simulation method, and uncertainty of the existing severe accident analyzing procedure is reduced.