Because all the interest of these stories is in fusion as a source of energy, and there's a long history of declaring we're near to break-even by leaving the mo

Because all the interest of these stories is in fusion as a source of energy, and there's a long history of declaring we're near to break-even by leaving the most energy intensive part of the apparatus out of the equation. With no disrespect to the researchers in this experiment, it's not like we're surprised that fusion works or that a pellet can generate more power than is put in.