This is exactly my concern. Thank you for stating it so clearly. The overall risk to the public in this case may actually go up as a result of needless actions undertaken by the uninformed or misled sheeple.
Here's the worst-case, highest-risk scenario. The sheeple of Westchester County are stampeded by the self-serving 'Rats into believing that Indian Point represents an "imminent danger". A significant percentage of the sucker moms take it upon themselves to start dispensing KI tablets to their sprogs "just in case". Now, most of them will be okay, and all the sucker Moms will be doing in that instance is wasting family resources that might be better spent on something else. But, hey, it makes them "feel better", because they're "doing something about it". But a (perhaps) small percentage of the population will suffer ill effects from this added burden (epidemiologists would call it an "insult") to their bodily systems. Who knows, maybe the suckers will panic and, "just to be extra safe", increase the dose beyond that recommended, say maybe ten pills a day, instead of one, thinking, "Hey, ten pills, ten times the protection, right?" And those kids die of KI poisoning. Meanwhile Indian Point is humming along nicely as usual, producing no harmful effects in the environment or among the general populace. The responsibility for the harm done in this case lies not with the nuke, but with those fear mongers who stampede the sheeple into needlessly risky action.
Talk about yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater. You can bet though that the 'authorities' have their ducks lined up in case of a lawsuit when somebody does die due to Iodine poisoning/overdose/allergic reaction. After all, politics is much 'bigger' than the individual.