The rectifiers create a change in current as they turn on or off, and with the unknown line and load inductance this can make for a large voltage spike, especially if you have the line reactor installed to increase the input impedance on a low impedance supply.
If you have a very low impedance supply ( typical in an industrial environment, where you could literally have a supply impedance in the low milliohm range) the turn on spikes can be very large, definitely enough to damage the junctions from overvoltage or from concentrating the current in a small spot on the die as the slow portions of the diode turn on or off. If you look at the datasheets for all inverters you see the need to increase supply impedance in certain conditions with a line reactor.