At present, the question how to finance the decommissioning of nuclear plants and the management of radioactive waste, and how to structure the next steps of the German nuclear phase-out is in the center of the current debate. There is a threat that nuclear power plant operators could partially abdicate their financial responsibility in the long term. Previous experiences have shown that decommissioning nuclear plants and managing radioactive waste often involves substantial delays and cost increases. So far, a permanent repository for highly radioactive waste is still missing. At the same time, the capacity of the repository Konrad for low and medium level radioactive waste, which is currently being built, is too low for all the waste expected. In order to secure the financing of plant decommissioning and radioactive waste management in the long term, several concepts are being discussed, among them intra-corporate funds, a public fund, as well as hybrid solutions of these approaches.Because of the existing interdependencies between plant decommissioning and waste management and a very long time horizon, the establishment of a public fund appears to be most suitable in order to secure long-term financing, to adhere to the "polluter-pays principle", and to mitigate the financial risks of the society. The German government should thus establish a single public fund which secures the financing of both plant decommissioning and radioactive waste management. The payments to the fund should be spread over time in order to help the companies to adapt.