Salon has published this article about "MIT research scientist" Dr. Josef Oehmen and his post Why I am not worried about Japan's nuclear reactors, which went viral after its publication. The article was reposted in The Energy Collective, a site pro-nuclear lobbying site funded by Siemens, a manufacturer of nuclear reactors.


In that article, Oehmen said that "there was and will *not* be any significant release of radioactivity from the damaged Japanese reactors". A claim that has proven to be completely wrong several times already, as announced in repeated occasions by the Japanese government: The latest radioactivity escape occurred this morning, releasing "a radiation 800 times more intense than the recommended hourly exposure limit in Japan", according to the New York Times.


According to Salon, Dr. Oehmen is employed at MIT but he is not a nuclear scientist of any kind. He actually works at the Lean Advancement Initiative, focusing on business management issues:

Oehmen's research focuses on "risk management" with an eye to helping companies "take entrepreneurial risks." He writes papers on things like "Human Resource Management in China."

Since its publication, Oehmen's post was republished by MIT in an edited version, taking out the title and any claim about radiation escapes. Oehmen has declined any comment about Salon's article.

A more detailed article about Oehmen and his article can be found here . [Salon]