British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) has confirmed the sale of US power plant maker Westinghouse to technology giant Toshiba for $5.4 billion, the biggest overseas acquisition by a Japanese company in years.

BNFL, which is controlled by the British government, said it expected the sale to be finalised within around six months.

Last week Toshiba had said it was in a solid position to buy Westinghouse after the Japanese electronics giant's quarterly profits soared more than 13-fold.

Some US lawmakers had been lobbying for Westinghouse to go to US giant General Electric owing to concerns about foreign control over nuclear technology.

US President George Bush's administration wants to relaunch construction of nuclear reactors in the US as the cost of crude oil is soaring near record highs.