Hey Atul (and everyone),
Thanks for the invitation to chime in! Here's a quick rundown of the use of "as" here:
-"As" doesn't have to be used in a comparison ("as much as...") but can also be used to link together like actions. For example: I love pizza, as does my brother.
In this case, you need a parallel verb like "does", because otherwise you'd have "I love pizza as my brother", in which case either I enjoy pizza while being my brother (which is illogical) or I like pizza that is my brother (also illogical). So we need to assign a verb to the second portion to that it's parallel and therefore logical.
-This use of "as" to tack on a similar action is pretty common. You've probably seen it in business articles:
"The United States is dealing with a debt crisis, as are many European Union nations."
"Libya has undergone a series of violent demonstration, as have Egypt, Tunisia, and several other Middle Eastern countries."
Note that these uses of "as" are adding new information that's not really essential but helps to round out the sentence in context.
-In this sentence, the add-on, additional "good to know but nonessential" information is that the counter action (splitting atoms apart) that does not take place in fusion is actually what happens in nuclear reactors. So "as nuclear reactors do" here is used to link that action nonessentially to be parallel with "not splitting atoms apart". This usage of "as...do" makes it clear that nuclear reactors split atoms, while as we know from previously in the sentence fusion does not.
That's at least the explanation for the use of "as" with "do" and why that's the best option. I hope that helps...
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep
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