The kinetics of anodic dissolution of Zr in hydrofluoric acid (HF) was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization experiments. At lower potentials, an active region with a rapid increase in current with the potential was observed and at higher potentials, a large passivation current plateau was observed. The current decreased only slightly with potential in the passive region. Scanning electron micrographs confirmed that the passivation is incomplete in the region where current exhibits a plateau and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis showed that oxides and oxyfluorides are present on the surface. A four-step mechanism with two adsorbed intermediate species was evaluated and the model captures the essential characteristics of the polarization plots. The results suggest that species participates in the chemical dissolution step and actual HF participates in the electrochemical dissolution step.