This started as a small group of fusion scientists who could
see incremental (but painfully slow) progress toward fusion
energy production. Real progress-- giant strides-- cannot be
made here in the US until we ramp up the effort dramatically.
So to get the word out, the founders of team Fusion to Iron
shamelessly used the Ironman triathlon as a way to get attention
and drum up support. Normal people transforming to ironmen
for the cause, having a great time along the way.

We need to drum up more support for the cause. You should join.
It'll put you on an email list that produces very little spam; your
email address will not be shared. Our immediate goal is to get a
healthy number of members from each of the 50 states.

It's free to join.

Educate, spread the word, and (coming soon) pester congress.

glad you asked... there are 4 things to notice. The yellow curve is the binding energy per nucleon curve; anytime you move upwards on the graph, mass is converted to energy by E = mc2 to release energy. On the right side of the graph is a faded 'fission', where heavy atoms are split to release energy. This works fine, but it does have issues. There are radioactive products that need to be handled and stored safely, there is a limited amount of uranium in the earth as fuel, and there are weapons proliferation concerns. On the left side of the curve, there is an environmentally friendly green arrow indicating fusion: sticking together light nuclei releases energy. This yet untapped source of energy on earth has just about every advantage you can imagine. The highest point on the curve is at the most stable nuclei: iron 56. (*nickel 62 is slightly higher, but who wants to be a 'nickel man'?) Atoms larger than iron can be split to release energy, and atoms smaller than iron can be fused to release energy. The steepest part of the curve is where the biggest energy gain can be made, and the particular reaction of interest for fusion energy is illustrated in the inset. Deuterium (hydrogen 2) and tritium (hydrogen 3) fuse to form helium (an inert, non- radioactive gas) and a neutron. This is a great idea. Check out this link for lots of good details on the first generation fusion reactor design and other technical info.

Fusion to Iron