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How’s the permitting going?

They are already permitted. Back in the 90's the NRC changed their licensing procedures. Before then, a utility would need a construction license first. Then after construction was done, they had to apply for an operating license. That second step was where the anti-nukes tossed in the monkey wrenches causing long delays and demanding all sorts major modifications. They could tie things up in courts and in regulatory hearings for years, literally attempting to bankrupt the utilities.

Now the NRC issues a combined construction/operating license. As long as the plant is built to the approved design, it does not require a second license to begin operations. The design of these four plants is the Westinghouse AP-1000, and it has been fully approved by the NRC.

MidAmerican was going to build one in Iowa. After Japan the EPA canceled the permits.

MidAmerican changed their mind on building, but according to this article, the NRC had nothing to do with it.

Interesting. This is local to me (Muscatine is a few miles away).

Lets just say that isn’t what some of the contractors working for MidAm told me.

Separately, MidAmerican said its recently announced plan to build additional wind generation would help keep customers' costs down. If approved by state regulators, the wind expansion will reduce customer rates by $10 million a year by 2017, starting with a $3.3 million decrease in 2015.

Do the winds on the plains blow in a particularly favorable manner for wind generation?

T. Boone Pickins was hot to go on a $4+ billion wind farm in West Texas. I guess the fracking/natural gas developments changed the economic equation for him. Or maybe he was angling for taxpayer subsidies, I can't quite remember.