The five nations, including China, India and South Korea, are expected to sign a deal this year on technological cooperation for the project, the leading business daily Nikkei said quoting Japanese government sources.

The new plant will cut carbon dioxide emissions by some 20 percent from the level of conventional models by gasifying coal with oxygen before burning it.

Then the carbon dioxide generated at the plant will be liquefied and locked in an underground storage facility, the report said.

At their meeting next Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President George W. Bush are expected to reaffirm cooperation in combating global warming, it said.

The paper said that Tokyo aims to strengthen its alliance with Washington in the development of technology to control carbon dioxide emissions amid intensifying competition with Europe.

A pilot plant, with a relatively small capacity of about 280,000 kilowatts, will be built in the United States, with each of the four other countries contributing at least 10 million dollars to the project, the Nikkei said.

Most of the cost, estimated to top one billion dollars, will be borne by the United States, with Japan and other participants supplying technology.

The costs of building and operating the new power plant will initially be twice as much as a conventional coal power station. But the costs will be reduced to make the project profitable by the 2020s, it said.

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