The invention discloses a reactor core for achieving 18-month circulation of a
pressurized water reactor with the power exceeding 4000 MW and a loading method of the reactor core, the reactor core is composed of 177 groups of annular fuel assemblies, a 20-month refueling strategy is adopted in the first circulation, each
assembly is divided into four areas to be loaded, the enrichment degrees of the assemblies in the four areas are 4.1%, 4.25%, 4.45% and 4.95% respectively, the number of the assemblies is 21, 64, 72 and 20 groups respectively, and the number of the assemblies in the four areas is 4.1%, 4.25%, 4.45% and 4.95% respectively. Placing 4.95% of the components in an outer area of the reactor core, and arranging 4.45% of the components, 4.25% of the components and 4.1% of the components in an inner area of the reactor core according to a
checkerboard format; in the second cycle and the third cycle, a low-leakage refueling mode is adopted, and 2 / 3 of the reactor core, namely 108 groups of new assemblies, is loaded into the reactor core during refueling each time; and in the fourth cycle, balanced refueling is achieved, and the reactor core adopts a low-leakage refueling mode. According to the invention, after the annular fuel
assembly is adopted by the
pressurized water reactor consisting of 177 groups of fuel assemblies, the reactor core power is improved by 30% and reaches 4130MW compared with that when rod-shaped fuel is adopted, and the balance cycle
life length still meets 18 months, so that the economical efficiency of the reactor core is obviously improved.