With the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant behind him, Gov. Martin O’Malley gave his strong support to the building of a third nuclear reactor there on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay as “far better for the environment than other forms of energy.”

 “I certainly would like to see more nuclear plants built in our country,” O’Malley told reporters after he toured the plant with Constellation Energy executives whom he had been battling in court until last month. Conservation and new generating capacity are needed to supply the energy Maryland and the nation will need, he added.

Constellation Vice Chairman Mike Wallace told The Examiner that ground could be broken for a new reactor as early as December if federal loan guarantees can be obtained. The company already has applied for the federal and state permits needed to construct the plant.  Wallace said the new reactor could be generating power by late 2015 or early 2016.

It would be the first new nuclear plant built in the United States in 30 years.

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“There are a lot of regulatory hurdles that need to be crossed,” O’Malley said. But with last month’s signing of legislation to settle the lawsuit between the state and the utility company, he said, “the hopes for another reactor here are much higher.”

O’Malley said the new plant would not provide any relief for rising electricity rates, such as the 7.6 percent increase expected this summer. “The answer is going to be new generating capacity,” including possibly publicly owned plants.

“We do hope that the addition of nuclear [capacity] will help consumers over the long term,” Constellation Chairman Mayo Shattuck said. “We need a blended mix of power sources.”

Johanna Neumann, state director of the Maryland Public Interest Research Group, remained skeptical. “Is nuclear power really safer, cleaner, more affordable, more secure?” Neumann asked. “I’m not convinced. We know it can’t address our short term energy needs.”

The group produced a report last year rejecting the building of the new plant.

The report said the cost estimates for nuclear plants — more than $2.5 billion at Calvert Cliffs — are notoriously inaccurate, and don’t take into account hidden costs such as the disposing of the spent radioactive fuel and the eventual decommissioning of the plant.