Arsenic-bearing wastes from copper smelting system are usually disposed by trapping them in slag tailing. However, arsenic in slag tailing is not that stable, which can infiltrate into the groundwater, threatening the environment and human health. The solidification/stabilization (S/S) of arsenic is the only way to deal with arsenic contamination. The flash smelting method shows relatively high S/S ability of arsenic, but the process and mechanism remain unclear. In this paper, we aim at revealing the effect of atmosphere on the S/S process of arsenic owing to the different content of oxygen in reaction shaft and sedimentation tank in copper smelting system. Calcium arsenate, SiO2, Fe2O3 and iron powders were sintered at different temperature in air and argon to simulate the S/S reaction. The results show that the sintering product is Fe-Si oxide in air and fayalite in argon, and the fayalite possesses better capacity to solidify arsenic than that of Fe-Si oxide. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) results reveal that the leached concentration of arsenic from fayalite fabricated at 1200 ℃ is only 2.916 mg L-1, which satisfies the identification standard for hazardous substances in China. Furthermore, the theoretical calculation reveals that AsO4 and SiO4 tetrahedrons can be connected by O atoms when sintered in argon, and the Si-O-As covalent bond can evidently inhibit the release of As atom from fayalite. This work can not only clarify the S/S mechanism of arsenic in flash smelting process, but also provide theoretical guidances to dispose arsenic-bearing waste harmlessly.