Aquastat wire broken

When replacing my oil fired hot water tank, the wire for the thermocouple broke at the inlet of the immersion well... When I tried to get the thermocouple out, it seems to be cemented in with what I can only assume is heat transfer paste... Is there an easy way to get the thermocouple out, or do I need to pull the whole immersion well, and if so, is it swetted in, and is there an easy way to undo that as well?

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