A method of measuring the subcriticality of a reactor, according to which the reactor is transferred from a critical into a subcritical state twice by moving control rods with different velocities V 1 and V 2 , is substantiated. A correction to the indications of a reactivity meter for the spatial effect of reactivity is calculated according to detector signals which are recorded with each movement. The correction calculation does not require neutron-physical calculations. As an example this method is applied to water-moderated and -cooled reactors.In accordance with methods of measuring the effectiveness of regulation organs (absorption rods for emergency protection, control, and compensation), by moving a control organ, whose effectiveness is to be determined, from the position H ini into the position H fi n a nuclear reactor is transferred from a close to critical state into a subcritical state [1-3]. The difference of the reactor reactivity in the initial (before the rods are moved) and fi nal (after the rods are moved) states is taken as the effectiveness of the control organ. The reactivity is calculated in the course of the measurement by solving the inverse equation of point kinetics:(1)where ρ is the reactivity; t is the running time; Λ is the generation time; λ i , β, α i , and C i0 are generally accepted notations for the characteristics of the delayed neutrons; and I is the signal from a neutron detector.In practice, methodological errors complicate the use of Eq. (1). A signifi cant error arises as a result of changes in the spatio-energy distribution of the neutrons in the core during the measurements. A spatial effect of reactivity is observed: the reactivity calculated from a detector signal depends on the mutual arrangement of the detector and the moved working organ as well as on the velocity of the detector and the time when motion ceases. The problem of the spatial effect of reactivity has been a subject of discussion for many years [4][5][6].When the control organ stops moving under conditions where feedback can be neglected, as the neutron distribution corresponding to the change in the state of the core is established, the error owing to the spatial effect asymptotically goes to zero [7]. However, the possibility of measuring a detector signal and therefore calculating the reactivity is lost in a subcritical state of the reactor because as a rule the integral neutron fl ux decreases long before a new stationary distribution is established. To determine the effi ciency of a control organ the reactivity calculated from Eq. (1) at the end of the time interval when the detector signal can still be measured is used as the reactivity in the fi nal state of the reactor.The aim of the present work is to examine on the basis point kinetics the possibility of determining the effi ciency of a control organ as it moves from the initial to the fi nal position.