Subatomic merger in our fuel — cans buckling! (7,6)

I believe the answer is:

nuclear fusion

'subatomic merger' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'in our fuel cans buckling' is the wordplay.
'buckling' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in'+'our'+'fuel'+'cans'='inourfuelcans'
'inourfuelcans' anagrammed gives 'NUCLEAR FUSION'.

(Another definition for nuclear fusion that I've seen is " Subatomic merger".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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