A new scheme for the optimal control of nuclear power plants is proposed. It differs from previous applications of optimal control theory to nuclear reactors in that here it is possible to select the weighting matrices in the quadratic cost functional so that desired pole placement, and subsequent transient response, is achieved. The desired weighting matrix and corresponding optimal control law are found sequentially. From the computational point of view the proposed design algorithm is very efficient since the dynamical system is aggregated at each stage of the sequential process to a first- or a second-order system. Thus, almost the entire computation involves second- or fourth-order matrices.