The invention relates to a reactor type short-circuit fault current limiter, which consists of reactors, a capacitor, a switch and lightning arresters. During the stable state of an electric grid, the current limiter works at a series resonance or series compensation status and is of low impedance; and after the electric grid is subjected to short-circuit fault, windings of the reactors are saturated due to overcurrent, or meanwhile, the change of the reactance of the reactors is controlled through closing the switch, so that the current limiter generates high impedance to realize fault current limiting. According to the current limiter, the automatic fault response is realized through the saturation of the reactors, and the current-limiting capacity is improved through circuit resonance; meanwhile, the manufacture cost of a system can be greatly lowered through the reasonable design of a current limiter structure; and the current limiter is strong in current-limiting capacity and has little influence on the electric grid, and the safety and the reliability of the operation of the electric grid are effectively improved.