[sgift]

> Technology and theories have since advanced that might leapfrog it

With "might" being the operative word. As long as none of these new approaches has achieved viable fusion (so, more power out than in) I think it's not a bad idea to just continue with the less radical plan that will probably work, even if it is slower.

[xorcist]

ITER is research. There are numerous engineering problems yet to be solved, plasma physics, materials science, you name it. Research projects are always a "waste of money" in some way so that particular criticism is neither surprising nor very helpful.