It's not a waste of time, it's just that the current reactor has always been a stopgap.
MK1 will have done its job if it proves the process at scale, but MK2 will be cheaper and easier to build, and likely more efficient.
Going back a few years, MK1 was a scale-up from the externally-heated Kwinana pilot reactor made with special alloys.
Hazer actually wanted to develop an internally heated reactor for the CDP, but they couldn't get the materials right and their prototype failed.
MK1 was to help to plug a gap, then the whole dodgy materials and failures happened and we lost two years. So MK1 ended up delivered, while MK2 was already well advanced.
The contract with Water Corp was to see MK1 phased out at the end of the 2023 after three years of operation. MK2 was always the logical replacement. Relatively-speaking it's on time!
(20min delay)