Physical events that occur in the reactor core during load changes

The reactor core control aims at mastering 2 important parameters that are relevant for reactor availability and safety. First, the reactivity that sets the power output and secondly, the power map in order to handle hot spots. In PWR-type reactors, physical events such as moderator or fuel temperature changes, xenon concentration, that are important for both parameters, evolve during load changes but also during power plateaus and are dependent on burn-up. In this article temperature effect and xenon poisoning are analysed and their impact are assessed along an irradiation campaign through a core neutronic simulation and data from instrumentation. Xenon oscillations are particularly well illustrated. The counter-reactions of the means used for reactor controlling: soluble boron and control rods, are also analysed. (A.C.)