She is talking about Tokamak, particularly, which really is a dead end. But a minuscule fraction of the spend is giving plasma fluid dynamics physicists work experience, so it is not all totally wasted. Maybe some more of it is going to superconducting magnets, which ought to be useful for something someday.
How close is nuclear fusion power? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4W1g-6JiY