The definition of "will work" has been downsized over the years. What ITER is now claimed to do is much less than it was originally supposed to do. Originally it was supposed to be able to produce 500MW more or less continuously. That goal has been downsized to 300-500 seconds. The current record for holding a fusion reaction together is about a second. If ITAR beats that by a reasonable margin, its backers can call it a victory and go home.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/nuclear_pow...

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/a-veteran-of-fu...

If anybody seriously thought this would work commercially, it would get its $15 billion in private funding and be working in three years.