Might be a little bit closer than you think, the issue with fusion is that to start the nuclear fusion of two elements you need a HUGE amount of energy to overcome the strong force that’s holding the protons and neutrons together. Stars achieve this due to the fact they are PHAT and their pure size creates a force large enough to overcome the strong force holding atoms together. As you can imagine this strategy won’t work on earth as we can’t build something that massive to simulate the force and pressure needed for fusion but, there is another much smaller way. Nuclear reactors are just steam engines. The heat energy from nuclear fusion boils water, the pressurized steam then passes through a turbine. It is that simple, unlike most people tend to believe there is no complicated science behind the extraction of energy.
