30 years ago, I researched the current state of fusion of technology, collated projections of various approaches, and even worked on a theta pinch fusion experiment. The line that fusion is the energy of the future and will remain so is funny and appropriate for the progress of the technology to date, which has been very disappointing. I will say I do remember that there are reactions (although significantly harder to ecnoomically make happen) the deuterium/deuterium reaction produces no neutrons, just electrostatic particles, so radioactive waste for that reaction would be effectively non-existent.

The major stumbling block to successful fusion control in magnetic containment devices has always been the turbulence in the plasma that destabilizes the reaction. Whole new mathematics have been developed to deal with turbulence as a side effect of attempting to understand how to control it. In that sense, there has been a lot of progress in understanding, but no really big breakthroughs to make the process simple or effective.

It's hard for me to put much faith and the massive bureaucratic approach to the ITER project. The overhead of multinational multi-billion projects and all the turf wars and fiefdoms that are produced as a result, seems to overwhelm these large projects. You probaby get about 20% of your moneys worth in the end.

The inertial confinement method of fusion power has always intrigued me and I have definitely thought that if we ever made enough progress with laser technology, doing fusion on deuterium pellets with laser pulses had a good chance of working.

I also haven't given up on the concept of cold fusion. I'm not a physicist, so maybe I'm not skeptical enough. But advances in nanotechnology make me wonder if it won't be possible to build nanostructures that could help catalyze a fusion reaction.

Barring a breakthrough, fusion is still a significant ways in the future, and even further to make a significant impact on our energy equation. To be against research in this area, is really ignorant however. Over mankinds history, the acquisition of knowledge leads to both good and bad, but overall, you have to say much more good than bad.