I remember hearing about ITER back in school, a long time ago, and being told that they were just about to finally assemble the thing now.

That's pretty much the definition of vaporware, but maybe it will actually go the route of Duke Nukem :)

What's sort of my point: we've had big projects that would totally definitely work this time every few years since the 90s. Will ITER work? Maybe. Would it be the first to fail (or even the 10th) if it doesn't? No. Per your own link there are literally 100s of other "reactors".

Its the same as crypto or emissions reductions.