I'm not an expert (I'm a physics prof who once took a seminar on nuclear arms control back in college), but what they're trying to do here is much, much harder

I'm not an expert (I'm a physics prof who once took a seminar on nuclear arms control back in college), but what they're trying to do here is much, much harder than making an atomic bomb. If you want nuclear weapons, this work on carefully controlled and contained fusion is close to the opposite of what you'd need to do. (Fusion power is in general much cleaner than fission, at least where lasting radioactivity and waste are concerned.)