Splitting heavy atomic nuclei to generate energy is not the only way to perform a nuclear reaction. It is also possible to take two light nuclei, such as deuterium and tritium (isotopes of hydrogen), and push them close enough together to cause them to fuse into a heavier atomic nucleus.

Watch the following animation showing fusion of deuterium and tritium into helium.

Source of Animation: Animated_D-T_fusion, Anynobody, Wikimedia Commons

Applying your knowledge of mass-energy equivalence, how does mass-energy equivalence relate to nuclear fusion?

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When two atoms are fused together, some of the matter is released as energy.