Dozens of residents gathered at the San Clemente City Council meeting Tuesday night to voice their concerns over the safety of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

Nuclear plant Chief Pete Dietrich spoke to assure residents that the facility would have withstood a quake similar to the one that has devastated Japan, where workers are frantically attempting to prevent a meltdown at a Japanese nuclear plant struck by the tsunami.

San Clemente Mayor Lori Donchak and council members asked for a full report on plant safety within 60 to 90 days, taking into account lessons learned from the Japanese quake.

Some residents were not convinced by Dietrich's assurances.

"I'm sure the residents of Japan were subjected to the same dog-and-pony show we were about the safety of their plants," said one resident.

Gary Headrick, founder of San Clemente Green, led the speakers. He said in an email leading up to the meeting: 

"I am not being an alarmist when I draw a comparison between what we see in Japan and what could happen here at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. It is being discussed in all the media outlets. We are hearing the experts talking about the potential risk we face, but no one is hearing it from those of us directly in harm’s way."

About a dozen residents spoke at the meeting.

Dietrich repeated some of the same assurances that he gave Monday when speaking with reporters about plant safety.

San Onofre is built to withstand up to a 7.0 on the Richter scale, Dietrich said. Though the Japanese quake was an 8.9 to 9.0, Dietrich said the velocity with which the ground was moving at the quake’s strongest point was .35 Gs.

The San Onofre plant, however, can withstand ground movement forces of up to .67 Gs, nearly twice the force of the Japanese quake, Dietrich said.

Donchak will be part of a committee to further examine plant safety.

Also at the meeting, officials said they would have potassium iodide tablets available. These medications, which help prevent the thyroid gland from absorbing radiation, should  be taken at direction of public health officials.

The pills are available by contacting the city.

Officials said residents should have at least three days' worth of food and water, first-aid kits, some cash and other necessities in their disaster preparedness supplies.

Click here from suggestions from San Clemente Patch's columnist about building a disaster-preparedness kit.