The most expensive object on Earth is set to be built in England

What's big, grey, wants to live in Hinckley, Somerset, and could cost £24 billion to build?

It's EDF's proposed nuclear power station - an object that Greenpeace claims will be the most expensive object on Earth.

The charity believes that the building of the nuclear power station on the Somerset coast could pass a budget of £24 billion, making it 18 times more expensive than the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper that towers over Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and almost five times more expensive than the Large Hadron Collider that sits under the France–Switzerland border near Geneva.

Greenpeace believes that the French energy group's predicted cost of building the new power station is far too low, citing the recent resignation of its finance director as proof that the project could bankrupt EDF and leave the project incomplete. A petition launched in March that demands George Osborne stop the project has gained 110,618 signatures. 

Speaking on Radio 4's More or Less, emeritus professor of energy policy at Greenwich University Steve Thomas explained why the station could cost a record amount: "Nuclear power plants are the most complicated piece of equipment we make. [The] cost of nuclear power plants has tended to go up throughout history as accidents happen and we design measures to deal with the risk."

Even if the Hinkley station does go ahead, it won't get close to the most expensive man-made object in history: the £77.6bn splashed on the International Space Station. 

Read more about the proposed build from EDF here, and find Greenpeace's thoughts here.