It looks like they’re really serious about building this white elephant. Magnetic fusion facilities like ITER are scientifically feasible, but they are engineering nightmares, and will never be cost-competitive with the alternatives, except in the daydreams of the people who write reactor design studies for scientific journals. I’ve always been a fan of fusion energy, but there’s got to be a better way. Oh, well, I suppose this is one of the more creative ways for governments to waste money.
I know very little about fusion, but as far as I know no one has created a working fusion reactor yet. If that is true then it doesn’t matter if this concept is cost-competitive or not because if it works it might generate a lot more support to projects that are cost-competitive (I know that there are a lot of fusion projects currently in existance but most of them – if not all – seem to lack proper funding). Considering the potential of the technology I wouldn’t consider it a waste of money.