Technical and scientific report of the Alto project

The Alto project means the installation of an electron linear accelerator inside the experimental area of the tandem accelerator of the nuclear physics institute of Orsay (IPNO, France). This linear accelerator comes from CERN where it was operating as a pre-injector for LEP. This equipment will allow IPNO'teams to perform fast kinetics studies in a domain different from that of ELYSE accelerator. The time resolution will not be as high as that of ELYSE (picosecond) but will be sufficient (microsecond) to produce free radicals in aqueous and gaseous media. The main expectations of this installation can be classified according 3 axis: 1) basic research (mainly the study of nuclear matter through photo-fission, 2) research and development of accelerators (by providing a test bench for new high frequency systems and superconducting components), and 3) applied research for industry concerning: biochemistry under irradiation, radiation sensibility, DNA breaking, food and drug sterilization and behaviour of electronic components under irradiation. This rapport details the research program that could be achieved with this equipment, describes its contributions in terms of economic development, cooperation with industry, student training, and specifies the needed investment and the operating and maintenance costs. (A.C.)