The experiment was designed to achieve a self-sustaining thermonuclear fusion reaction (ignition) in a tokamak with the minimum possible budget.
[2] At some point in the early 1990s, the DOE canceled the project and supported instead the design of the Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX), which was also never built.
There is confidence that ITER and FIRE will achieve burning plasma performance in H–mode based on an extensive experimental database...".
[5] The goal of the CIT was to produce an ignited plasma, which is defined as Q>10, and/or the ability to shut off auxiliary heating and have fusion power sustain the reaction.
The goal of studying the physics and engineering of an ignited plasma with the minimum possible cost meant accepting a design that did not directly scale into a reactor (given the technology available at that time).