The HGF centers FZJ, HZDR and KIT cooperating in the NUSAFE consortium are implementing the  laboratory infrastructure "HOVER" (Helmholtz Research and Technology Platform for the Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities and for the Management of Radioactive Waste) since 2020 as a decentralized research infrastructure. HOVER is dedicated to support advanced scientific investigations and technical developments in the context of the German phase out of nuclear energy. To this aim HOVER provides unique large scale facilities for the development and demonstration of innovative decommissioning technologies. Equally relevant is the provision of nuclear laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation to investigate nuclear waste forms as well as radionuclides including α-emitting actinides and to study those processes which determine their behaviour in interim storage facilities and deep geological repositories. As of today, such laboratories are not any more available at research facilities outside the Helmholtz Association. Thus the involved HGF centers play a pivotal role to foster basic and applied research related to one essential aspect of the successful realization of the German “Energiewende” policy: the safe termination of nuclear energy. Within HOVER, the complementary expertise of NUSAFE partners is synergistically combined by the development of specific infrastructures dedicated to specific research topics prioritized by the individual partners. Research performed within the HOVER platform covers technical developments and scientific challenges dealing with the entire chain of decommissioning, nuclear waste conditioning, as well as final disposal.