Abstract: AES with direct current arc was applied to the determination of trace amounts of 16 elements in zirconium and its alloy. The sample was heated at 1 000 ℃ for 4 h, and then mixed with silver chloride as carrier in the mass ratio of 4∶1. The mixture was filled into  4 mm× 2 mm graphite electrode, and excited with DC of 10 A for 40 s. Charge coupled device detector was used. Linearity ranges of the 16 elements were same in the range of 0.000 3%-0.030 0%, with same detection limits (3s) of 2.6 mg·L-1. Values of recovery obtained by standard addition method were in the range of 86.7%-120%.