The most expensive project on the planet

The world's most expensive object is not a luxury skyscraper but a new nuclear power plant in the UK that cost $35.8 billion to build.

Graphic of Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant. Photo: Wordpress.

The Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant is expected to cost $35.8 billion to build, according to the European Commission. When completed in 2023, it will provide 3.3 gigawatts of electricity, meeting 7% of the UK's energy needs.

Hinkley Point C will be built by French power company EDF. It will be the first nuclear power plant in the UK in 30 years. It will cost significantly more than Sizewell B, which opened in 1995 and cost $6 billion to build, according to IFL Science.

By comparison, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) cost $4.75 billion to build. Including the cost of conducting experiments and annual operations, the total cost of the LHC is $13.25 billion, only one-third that of Hinkley Point C.

If we focus on successful scientific work, the two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatories (LIGO), which detected gravitational waves earlier this year, cost $620 million. The investment in the Hinkley Point C power plant would be enough to build 57 similar observatories.

Two other expensive projects, however, dwarf Hinkley Point C in terms of cost. The oil giant’s Gordon natural gas liquefaction project, under construction in Western Australia, is expected to cost $54 billion when completed. But the most expensive object ever built by humans is not on Earth, but in orbit. The International Space Station (ISS) cost a whopping $115 billion.

Hinkley Point C may not be the most expensive project on the planet, given the controversy surrounding its construction plans. However, according to Dr Ben Britton, an engineering lecturer at Imperial College London, there are several factors that make it so expensive. "It's important to point out that this is the first time in the history of nuclear power plant construction that decommissioning and waste management costs have been factored into the cost of Hinkley Point C," Britton said.

According to VNE