ITER does not do fundamental research like the LHC, they focus on very specific technical problems in the field of fusion power - as if it's already a given tha

ITER does not do fundamental research like the LHC, they focus on very specific technical problems in the field of fusion power - as if it's already a given that their particular approach to power generation is desirable and workable. The author's concern is that even is the problems are solved, tokamak fusion power is still a prohibitively expensive and unsustainable idea; it's only natural to question why those research resources funds aren't devoted to other areas that at least make an attempt to obtain directly useful results. The tritium economy issue is particularly wexing, any commercial D-T reactor will need outside, fission produced tritium.