  The supersoft X-ray and optical transient ASASSN-16oh has been interpreted by
Maccarone et al. (2019) as having being induced by an accretion event on a
massive white dwarf, resembling a dwarf nova super-outburst. These authors
argued that the supersoft X-ray spectrum had a different origin than in an
atmosphere heated by shell nuclear burning, because no mass was ejected. We
find instead that the event's timescale and other characteristics are typical
of non-mass ejecting thermonuclear runaways, as already predicted by Shara et
al. (1977) and the extensive grid of nova models by Yaron et al. (2005). We
suggest that the low X-ray and bolometric luminosity in comparison to the
predictions of the models of nuclear burning are due to an optically thick
accretion disk, hiding most of the white dwarf surface. If this is the case, we
calculated that the optical transient can be explained as a non-ejective
thermonuclear event on a WD of $\simeq$1.1M$_\odot$ accreting at the rate of
$\simeq3.5{-}5{\times}10^{-7}$M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$. We make predictions that
should prove whether the nature of the transient event was due to thermonuclear
burning or to accretion; observational proof should be obtained in the next few
years, because a new outburst should occur within $\simeq$10-15 years of the
event.
