The present invention relates to a method for controlling a pressurized water nuclear reactor comprising: a core producing thermal power; sensors for acquiring the mean temperature of the primary coolant and for calculating the thermal power; actuators for controlling the temperature of the primary coolant; actuators for controlling the axial distribution of power; the control method comprising: a first control phase for controlling the reactor during normal operation by controlling the mean temperature of the primary coolant so as to make it correspond to a reference temperature profile (Pref) dependent on the thermal power of the reactor; the method according to the invention comprises a second control phase, referred to as stretchout, that occurs after normal operation of the reactor in order to control the reactor in stretchout by controlling the axial distribution of power, the mean temperature varying freely in a temperature range delimited by an upper limit and a lower limit.