Dear Sir
With regard to the Viewpoint article on page 46 (NEI October 2001), your readers may be interested in the following extract from my book “What Went Wrong? – Case Histories of Process Plant Disasters”, 4th edition, Gulf Publishing, 1998, p 306:
“Some catalyst tubes in a [chemical] reactor failed as a result of chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking soon after startup. A materials expert, called in to investigate, found that all the failures had occurred in one corner of the reactor, that men had been working on the roof, day and night, for several weeks after the tubes had been fitted, that this area of the roof could not be seen from the rest of the plant and that to reach the nearest restroom the men had to negotiate three ladders.”
Trevor A Kletz
