Chief Chaos, I've thought the same thing, but I'm less cynical for more cynical reasons. What makes the world a little different is that I'd expect the Chinese to be prefectly delighted to use it to power factories and buses (or warships or fighter planes) and not give the West much chance to sit on the technology.

Fusion trumps the conservation of engery, of course, Amos, but you're absolutely right. If this turns out to be real, you still have to wonder if it can be made to produce more energy than it consumes along with all the lovely little engineering issues that are bound to come up.