William Sommerwerck wrote:
I'm taking about lithium coin cells used in battery-backed
RAM and real-time clock modules. NASA said that if they
failed, lithium could contaminate the atmosphere.

NASA was "nuts" about such things. It was worried about outgassing from the
rubber feet on HP calculators. These were removed.

well, rubber does outgas, crappier types more than others, but how do you
know which is which? It seems like an odd but sensible thing to do.