I agree diversifying bets is a good idea, but building ITER 20 years ago wouldn’t have been a particularly significant investment.
Spend 1 billion/year (in today’s money) from 1987 and by 2006 you’re well past ITER’s projected cost back then there was little advantage to waiting. JET’s first plasma was 1983 so that’s another 10 years for design and 12 years for construction.
By comparison the US was spending ~12 Billion / year in energy R&D in 1978 (2026) dollars. That fell over time, but it’s not like total energy R&D spending couldn’t have increased vs historic levels. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RS22858
Spend 1 billion/year (in today’s money) from 1987 and by 2006 you’re well past ITER’s projected cost back then there was little advantage to waiting. JET’s first plasma was 1983 so that’s another 10 years for design and 12 years for construction.
By comparison the US was spending ~12 Billion / year in energy R&D in 1978 (2026) dollars. That fell over time, but it’s not like total energy R&D spending couldn’t have increased vs historic levels. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RS22858