A hydraulic lock for latching a displacer rod drive mechanism in an up position. A piston having a truncated cone-shaped valve element is formed at an end of the drive rod. A complementary truncated cone-shaped valve seat is formed in the cap of the reactor housing. When the drive rod is activated to the up position, the valve element seats against the valve seat creating a seal and a pressure boundary. The piston is provided with piston rings. The pressure differential acting across the piston is transferred to the area of contact between the valve element and valve seat thus maintaining the drive rod in the up position and preventing leakage flow from around the piston rings. A hydraulic control system for operating the hydraulic latch is also disclosed.