%
%--------  Foreword:
\section*{Foreword}

The International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF)
\cite{IDSNFWWWSite} was established by the community at the ninth
``International Workshop on Neutrino Factories, super-beams, and
beta-beams'' which was held in Okayama in August 2007 \cite{NuFact07}.
The IDS-NF mandate is to deliver the Reference Design Report (RDR) for
the facility on the timescale of 2012/13 \cite{Ref:IDS-NF-Spec}.
The RDR is conceived as the document upon which requests for the
resources to carry out the first phase of the Neutrino Factory project
can be made.
The RDR will include: the physics performance of the Neutrino Factory
and the specification of each of the accelerator, diagnostic, and
detector systems; an estimate of the cost of the facility; and an
estimate of the schedule for its implementation. 
The RDR will also include a discussion of the remaining technical
risks and an appropriate risk-mitigation plan.

The mandate for the study \cite{Ref:IDS-NF-Spec} requires an Interim
Design Report to be delivered midway through the project as a step on
the way to the RDR.
This document, the IDR, has two functions: it marks the point in the
IDS-NF at which the emphasis turns to the engineering studies required to
deliver the RDR and it documents baseline concepts for the
accelerator complex, the neutrino detectors, and the instrumentation
systems. 
The IDS-NF is, in essense, a site-independent study.
Example sites, CERN, FNAL, and RAL, have been identified to allow
site-specific issues to be addressed in the cost analysis that will be
presented in the RDR.
The choice of example sites should not be interpreted as implying a
preferred choice of site for the facility.

This document is organised as follows. 
The physics case for the Neutrino Factory is reviewed and the
performance of the IDS-NF baseline for the facility are presented in
section \ref{Sect:PPEG}.
The baseline concepts for the accelerator facility and the neutrino
detectors are reviewed in sections \ref{Sect:AccWG} and
\ref{Sect:DetWG} respectively. 
The steps that the IDS-NF collaboration plans to take to prepare the
RDR are presented in section \ref{Sect:FuturePlans} together with a
summary of the accelerator and detector R\&D programmes that are
required to complete the detailed specification of the facility and to
mitigate technical risks that have been identified.

