Yet it is fundamental to the safety of the process; a faulty thermowell can jeopardize the whole operation.

The main risk comes from vortices forming in the process medium around the thermowell, which can cause vibrations. The stresses caused around the stem of the thermowell by these vibrations can, over time, lead to failure.

Incorrectly specifying pressure-retaining parts can have disastrous consequences, in the worst cases potentially leading to loss of life & loss of the plant.

The reactor suffered a serious accident. Intense vibration caused a thermowell inside a pipe carrying sodium coolant to break, allowing several hundred kilograms of sodium to leak out onto the floor below the pipe

Upon contact with air, the liquid sodium reacted with oxygen and moisture in the air, filling the room with caustic fumes and producing temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius.