Yes these produce a deadly shower of high speed neutrons and afford a large gym hall of equipment for a few watts...
That's funny! But they have produced more than a few watts. The PPPL produced 10 MW, albeit only for a fraction of a second. I think it was 6 MJ total. They said it was "enough for the needs of 3,000 homes," which is sorta true, if your goal is to irradiate 3,000 homes with neutrons for half a second. I guess that would be a public service. It is unclear who "needs" it. Does neutron radiation kill cockroaches? I think homeowners would prefer electricity.
QUOTE:
In December, 1993, TFTR became the world's first magnetic fusion device to perform extensive experiments with plasmas composed of 50/50 deuterium/tritium -- the fuel mix required for practical fusion power production. Consequently, in 1994, TFTR produced a world-record 10.7 million watts of controlled fusion power, enough to meet the needs of more than 3,000 homes. These experiments also emphasized studies of behavior of alpha particles produced in the deuterium-tritium reactions. The extent to which the alpha particles pass their energy to the plasma is critical to the eventual attainment of sustained fusion.