| Today's nuclear power stations generate energy from the fission of uranium 235 nuclei, but work is in progress on fusion reactors that would be 10 times as efficient at generating energy from the nuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium. When the nuclei of deuterium and tritium fuse, they transform into helium and neutrons, and the total mass is reduced by 0.38% through this reaction. In accordance with the E = mc2 equation, the lost mass is released as energy. Fusing one kilogram of deuterium with tritium results in a loss of about one gram of mass, which is released as energy equivalent to about 3,000 tons of coal.
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