[dctoedt]

> Why would the carbon split? Why not stay carbon?

Don't know — I'm not knowledgeable enough in this area to do more than take WAGs about it. The sequence might be different: For example, the 1H proton might not ever fuse with the 5B11 to form 6C12; instead, the fusion reaction might be that the 5B11 fissions into two 2He4 and one tritium 1H3, after which the 1H proton fuses to the tritium to form the third 2He4.

> And wouldn't this technically be fission energy then?

See the explanation in this thread at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22383199 — it makes as much sense as anything.